The Creative Launcher

Reviewed by: Family Quarrels: Towards a Criticism of Indian Writing in English Joya Uraizee Feroza F. Jussawalla . Family Quarrels: Towards a Criticism of Indian Writing in English. American University Studies Series IV: English Language and Literature 17. New York: Peter Lang, 1985. 209 pp. $29.20. Western-language writing from the former colonies in the so-called "third world" has often appeared to Western critics as problematic and confused. Known variously as "Commonwealth literature," "Third World literature" and "Post-Colonial literature," this writing has attracted a variety of critical responses in the West, from Frederic Jameson's dismissal of it as a series of "national allegories" (69), to Diana Brydon's hailing of it as cross-cultural and varied (3). On the other hand, non-Western critics have generally tended to provide more sensitive and insightful definitions and critiques, such as Frantz Fanon's description of it as one produced by a society which has experienced racial and cultural oppression, and which is still struggling to become "free" (219); or, on a more positive note, Ashis Nandy's view of it as one that incorporates a "universalism" or state of mind that includes the colonial experience, with all its agony, and creates from it a more mature and more sensitive tradition (75). Whatever the perspective, the focus of writers and critics has usually been on the depiction of the post-colonial condition and its implications both in the West and in the colonies. Hence it comes as a change to find a detailed analysis of how criticism has failed the postcolonial writer, which Jussawalla's study sets itself out to be. Unfortunately it focuses only on the so-called "Commonwealth" writers from India like Narayan and Das, the most recent novelist being Salman Rushdie. Even the datedness of its content is not a problem per se since it offers numerous good insights, but its method also lacks originality and development: it analyzes, in a new critical way, the conflict between form and content and, in a reader-response manner, the role of audience. The most interesting aspect of Jussawalla's approach is her application of linguistic theories of language as a culturally determining phenomenon to tackle the problem of form and content. However, she fails to place language and theme in their culturally specific contexts when analyzing different writers, despite pointing out the urgent need to do so. Jussawalla's thesis (and she reiterates this many times) is that Indian literature in English has developed primarily as a response to the criticism of it (ix), and is not due to any clearly-developed moral or ideological theories; yet the criticism itself is a failure because it is based on subjective prejudices and imitation, rather than on a text's "linguistic and social contextual background" (x). As such, she calls for a criticism based on context-analysis that deals with "ends" and ideals and not just style or language-use (190). That is, criticism must take into account a text's "particular, local and regional reality of language, theme and particularities of context" (193), because the critic is part creator and both literature and criticism are, in fact, complementary (192). In order to do this, she recommends that critics should apply what she calls a "holistic approach" (45), or, an analysis of both form and content together. Jussawalla divides her book into seven chapters which seem to fall into four sections. First, she provides an overview of Indo-Anglian writers [End Page 219] and critics and their thematic concerns (chapter 1), pointing out that Indian critics were subjective and prejudiced (18), while Western critics relied on plot summaries and explanation of themes (28). Next, Jussawalla discusses the criticism of certain selected novelists and poets, showing it to be subjective and imitative (chapters 2 through 4). The criticism of the poetry fails, she argues, because it is "decontextualized" and does not analyze both form and content. By way of example, she suggests that Kamala Das's poetry should be explained in view of the "sociological facts of a modern Nayar woman in a changing India" (50). The criticism of the fiction fails, she suggests, because it relies on the Sapir-Whorf linguistic...

II WANT TO CONSIDER THE IDEA OF THE CULTURAL ENCOUNTER between English and other languages, languages of others, but at same time also to think about English as a language of cultural encounter, an idea which connects to Ngugi wa Thiong'o's argument that translation is the language of languages.1 Related to this are ways in which English literature has for some time been marked even in categories used to define it by other cultures: world literatures in English, anglophone, postcolonial, Commonwealth literature(s). All these ways of describing literatures in English written outside Britain have particular implications, but general assumption, as with 'English literature', is that they are written, or read, in English.A simple example of how this cashes out in practice would be Conference of Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS). English is official language of Commonwealth, which hosts, in addition to ACLALS, organizations such as English Speaking Union, whose formation pre-dates Commonwealth itself. Any country that wishes to be a member of Commonwealth - even those members such as Mozambique, which have no historical links to British Empire - is required to accept rule that English language is means of Commonwealth communication. ACLALS conferences rarely infringe this rule: in my experience, even in India, all papers are given in English. It is noticeable, on other hand, that name of organization 'the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies' deliberately avoids specifying English as official language which ACLALS studies. I cannot find any information on any of many Commonwealth websites about how many languages are spoken in its fifty-three countries by its nearly two billion citizens, about thirty percent of world's population. However, website 'ethnologue' claims that there are 6,909 living languages in world, so with thirty percent of world's population, we might guess that on a proportional basis Commonwealth hosts around two thousand languages.2The Commonwealth Writer's Prize, by contrast, considers books in only one of them: i.e. books written in English, official language of Commonwealth. To get a prize, you have to write in English, to be a producer of 'English' literature in some sense. But what exactly, aspiring writers might ask, is English of English literature? In order to answer this question, I thought I would start at an obvious place, with a few examples of mainstream canonical English literature, drawn from writers I studied when I was 'reading', as they say, for my BA in 'English Language and Literature' at Oxford University - surely place, if anywhere, that represents heartland of English, of pure English English and English literature proper.My first example is a poem I was given to read in my very first term, on arrival in Oxford.Oft him anhaga are gebideoMetudes miltse beah be modceariggeond lagulade longe sceoldehreran mid hondum hrimcealde sa;,wadan wraxlastas: wyrd bio ful ara;d!Swa CW2CO eardstapa. . .3So here, it seems, is authentic English literature, straight from Oxford BA course on English Language and Literature. Perhaps someone should try submitting a book for Commonwealth Writer's Prize written in Anglo-Saxon. You might object, though, that claim by Anglo-Saxonists to call their object of study 'Old English' forms part of a particular, now historical ideology about origins of English in Anglo-Saxonism.4 So let us look at something more recent. I could cite some Chaucer, whose language resembles modern English a little more than poet of The Wanderer, but I thought John Donne might be fairer as a more comparatively recent canonical figure of English literature:Qvot dos haec Linguists perfetti Disticha feront,Tot cuerdos Statesmen, hic livre fara tunc. …

Introduction: Beyond the Anglophone—Comparative South Asian Literatures

The following reflections are based on my own experiences of various phases of the institutionalization of the comparative study of anglophone literatures and cultures on a global scale, a field of studies that came into being as 'Commonwealth Literature' in the 1960s, became widely known as the 'New Literatures in English' in the 1970s and 1980s, was often (rather unfortunately, I believe) subsumed under the label 'Postcolonial Studies' in the 1990s and 2000s, and is today increasingly referred to as 'Transcultural English (or Anglophone) Studies'. The vantage point from which I have witnessed much of the development and transformation of this field to which I have dedicated most of my professional energies over the last three decades or so has been the Institute of English and American Studies at Goethe University, Frankfurt. What follows may be read as a case study of the institutionalization and transformation of the comparative study of anglophone literatures and cultures at an institute whose members decided fairly early in the day to turn this field into one of the department's specializations designed to strengthen its teaching and research profile. I will provide a brief account of this institutionalization and transformation with regard to (i) teaching, (ii) research, and (iii) interdisciplinary research collaboration, before ending (iv) with a few observations on the non-institutionalization of postcolonial studies and the 'transcultural tum'.(i) With regard to teaching and curricular reforms, the 'Frankfurt experience' has unfolded as a 'mainstreaming' process that has moved the comparative study of anglophone literatures and cultures from a suspiciously eyed fringe position to the very centre of the institute's pedagogical profile. When Dieter Riemenschneider began to offer courses on anglophone African, Indian, and Caribbean literature and culture (soon to be followed by courses on Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) in the early 1970s (a time when most German universities still ran shy of offering courses on these subjects), quite a few members of the Institute of English and American Studies - and possibly quite a few students, too - probably considered this field a fairly exotic adjunct of dubious relevance to the institute's curricular core concerns. Yet, by the early 1980s, both student demand for 'new literatures' courses and the growing research reputation of the new sub-department of anglophone literatures and cultures (known by the name of NELK, based on the German acronym of Neue Englischsprachige Literaturen und Kulturen) led to an amendment of the Magister course of studies to include NELK as an optional focus area. At the same time, NELK courses (and Staatsexamen with a NELK focus) also became a regular feature of the curriculum for teacher students. A fiirther major step towards mainstreaming the comparative study of anglophone literatures and cultures that decisively brought to an end any residual notions of exoticism and marginality was the introduction of the new Bachelor's programme in 'English Studies' in 2010, with NELK as one of four evenly balanced areas of focus: in addition to the obligatory Introduction to literary studies, the NELK Introduction ('Introduction to Anglophone Cultures and the New Literatures in English') is now the second-largest introductory course offered in the English-studies curriculum. The mainstreaming of anglophone literatures and cultures has become even more pronounced with the introduction of the new Master's courses due to begin in the winter term 2013/14: apart from a Master's in American studies, the Institute now offers a Master's titled 'Anglophone Literatures, Cultures and Media', in which NELK plays a particularly prominent role, and an interdisciplinary Master's titled 'Moving Cultures: Transcultural Encounters' taught in English, French, Spanish, and German, a joint venture between NELK and the Institute of Romance Languages and Literatures that includes optional courses in the social sciences, cultural geography, cultural anthropology, education, and religious studies. …

Development of Indian English Literature in India gathered momentum with the consolidation of British imperialism in India. As we know the British sow the seed of Indian Writing in English during the period of the British rule in India. English language and literature in India starts with the advent of East India Company in India. It all started in the summers of 1608 when Emperor Jahangir, in the courts of Mughals, welcomed Captain William Hawkins, Commander of British Naval Expedition Hector. It was India's first tryst with an Englishman and English. Jahangir later allowed Britain to open a permanent port and factory on the special request of King James IV that was conveyed by his ambassador Sir Thomas Roe. English were here to stay. Indian writings in English were heavily influenced by the Western art form of the novel. It was typical for the early Indian English language writers to use English unadulterated by Indian words to convey experiences that were primarily Indian. The core reason behind this step was the fact that most of the readers were either British or British educated Indians. In the early 20th century, when the British conquest of India was achieved, a new breed of writers started to emerge on the block. These writers were essentially British who were born or brought up or both in India. Their writing consisted of Indian themes and sentiments but the way of storytelling was primarily western. They had no reservation in using native words, though, to signify the context. This group consisted likes of Rudyard Kipling, Jim Corbett, and George Orwell among others. In fact, some of the writings of that era are still considered to be masterpieces of English Literature. KEYWORDS: Contribution of British, Development, British works & strategy, English Literature.

The English Language has been an official Language Since British ruled settle in Sudan. It argued that it is rooted early 18th century. English language came to existence in Sudan through British Colony and Christian missionaries. It said that it was a tool of evangelizing in Sudan. Some claimed it is a tool of colonization, therefore, Muslim Brotherhood rejected the English Language and Literature because they misinterpreted that it carries soul and ideology of the west which is based on Christianity, Secularism, Capitalism and Mixed ideology of Capitalism and Socialism. It explored that the English Language came through Egypt. The Christianity and Islam were reported and spread through Egypt. The Socialism, Radicalization of Moslem brotherhood and Marxism came from Egypt. In Sudan, there is mixed relation about the issue of English Literature and Language. It observed that English language and Literature is hardly to die in Sudan and South Sudan because since English Language remains a language of Science, there is possibility of English Language to die. Literary writers, literary critics, linguists, educationists and policy makers argued that the life of English Literature is jeopardized. It believed that the challenges of any given country are beautifully reveal through Literature. Literature is expressed in poetry, drama, fiction and non-fiction. The second group think that English is not dying because English Language is an official language of South Sudan. Literature experts stressed that English Language and Literature must be supported in order to improve its qualities to compete with African countries. The majority of respondents said English Literature is dead.

This study sought to determine the level of anxiety towards English language learning of the students of Isabela State University, Ilagan Campus. The researchers used the descriptive design since the aim was to describe the level of the students’ anxiety towards English language learning. The standardized questionnaire for anxiety developed by Horwitz et al. (1986) was used           in this study. The findings revealed that the respondents’ level on the different areas of anxiety in learning the English language namely: communication anxiety, oral test anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, anxiety of English classes is moderate. Further, the results showed that sex is a variable that does not affect the students’ level of anxiety in learning the English language in terms of their anxiety in communication and in their English classes. However, in terms of their fear of negative evaluation and oral test anxiety; their sex has significant effect and it is prevalent to those who are female students. The level of anxiety of the students in English Language does not significantly influence the academic performance of the students. References Ali, T. T., & Fei, W. F. (2016). Foreign language classroom anxiety among Iraqi students and its relation with gender and achievement. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 6(1), 305-310. Amiri, M., & Ghonsooly, B. (2015). The relationship between English learning anxiety and the students' achievement on examinations. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 6(4), 855. Andualem Desta, M. (2019). An investigation into English foreign language learning anxiety and English language performance test result: Ethiopian University students in focus. International Journal of Research in English Education, 4(4), 83-100. Akpur, U. (2017). Predictive and explanatory relationship model between procrastination, motivation, anxiety and academic achievement. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 17(69), 221-21. Budin, M. (2014). Investigating the relationship between English language anxiety and the achievement of school based oral English test among Malaysian Form Four students. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 2(1). Clement, A., & Murugavel, T. (2018). English for the workplace: The importance of English language skills for effective performance. The English Classroom, 20(1), 1-15. Debreli, E., & Demirkan, S. (2015). Sources and levels of foreign language speaking anxiety of English as a foreign language university students with regard to language proficiency and gender. International Journal of English Language Education, 4(1), 49-62. Gerencheal, B. (2016). Gender Differences in Foreign Language Anxiety at an Ethiopian University: Mizan-Tepi University Third Year English Major Students in Focus. Online Submission, 1(1), 1-16. Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1986). Foreign language classroom anxiety. The Modern language journal, 70(2), 125-132. Jugo, R. R. (2020). Language anxiety in focus: The case of Filipino undergraduate teacher education learners. Education Research International, 2020. Khan, S. (2015). Influence of speech anxiety on oral communication skills among ESL/EFL learners. Department of Applied            Advances in Language and Literary Studies. ISSN: 2203-4714, Vol. 6 No. 6; Australian International Academic Centre, Australia. Retrieved July 22, 2021. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1127504.pdf Knell, E., & Chi, Y. (2012). The roles of motivation, affective attitudes, and willingness to communicate among Chinese students in early English immersion programs. International Education, 41(2), 5. Krashen, S. (1998). Comprehensible output?. System, 26(2), 175-182. Liu, D. (2015). A critical review of Krashen’s input hypothesis: Three major arguments. Journal of Education and Human Development, 4(4), 139-146. MacIntyre, D.,  &  R.C.  Gardner.  (1991a).  Language  anxiety:  Its    relationship  to  other  anxieties  and  to  processing  in  native  and  second  languages.  Language Learning 41: 85-117. Marcos-Llins, M., & Garau, J., M. (2009). Effects of Language Anxiety on Three Proficiency-Lvel Courses of Spanish as a Foreign Language. Foreign Language Annals, 42(1), 94-111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1944-9720.2009.01010.x Özer, S. (2020). The predictiveness of students’ attitude and motivation on their achievement in ESP classes: The mediating role of anxiety. Raju, N., & Joshith, V. P. (2018). Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition: A practical approach for English language classrooms. International Journal of Innovative Knowledge Concepts, 6(12), 179-184. Razak, N. A., Yassin, A. A., & Maasum, T. N. R. B. T. (2017). Effect of Foreign Language Anxiety on Gender and Academic Achievement among Yemeni University EFL Students. English Language Teaching, 10(2), 73-85. Rezazadeh, M., & Tavakoli, M. (2009). Investigating the Relationship among Test Anxiety, Gender, Academic Achievement and Years of Study: A Case of Iranian EFL University Students. English Language Teaching, 2(4), 68-74. Sadiq, J. M. (2017). Anxiety in English Language Learning: A Case Study of English Language Learners in Saudi Arabia. English Language Teaching, 10(7), 1-7. Said, M. M., & Weda, S. (2018). 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The teaching of English language and literature in India is a futile exercise in the academia since this mechanically imitative academic activity is carried out with total indifference and insensitivity to the needs and hopes, and aspirations and ambitions of thousands of students who join B.A. English either on their volition or on compulsion. While framing course objectives and syllabi, Boards of Studies in English in Indian universities never take into account the needs and competencies of the prospective students who join the course without any academic preparation at the school. English Studies is being offered at all levels as if it were an extension of the colonial project. Its grand objectives are incommensurate with contemporary Indian realities. Ironically, it is a sordid state of affairs that English language and literature students can leave the portals of their institutions with degrees in first class but without ever having truly read any literature or acquired functional literacy skills in English at all. Indigestible literary explications in the form of dry lectures in the classroom without their being solicited by student demands drive students to rely upon rote learning through bazaar notes, and the demand for proficiency in English remains a distant dream for many a student even after M. Phil degree programme. English language and literature teaching in India has become a highly subsidized sick industry with a vicious circle of imagined consumers and untrained or ill-trained workforce. It lacks both direction and vision. It has to be revamped with changing times and needs by making it more consumer-friendly and relevant with objectives revisited. Students of English literature as well as General English demand the acquisition of skills in communicative modern English. Literacy skills in English are a pre-requisite for the appreciation of literary merits of the canonical literature. Literary skills of reading and interpreting literature and cognitive skills of academic, research, and rhetorical writing on literary works are the demands of the students of English literature. Emphasis should therefore be laid on the ‘reading’ of English literature and ‘learning’ of the English language by students rather than ‘teaching’ them by teachers. Indian students of English literature as post-colonial second-language users of English need English as a weapon to win the material world for better economic prospects in social life rather than as a wand to capture the world imaginatively for aesthetic considerations in private life. Therefore, this paper argues that teachers of English should change their role as service- providers with a view to facilitating the learning process. They should metamorphose from being all-knowing undemocratic ‘interpreters’ and ‘dictators’ of literary knowledge into becoming ‘catalysts’ and ‘guides’ of students who need literacy skills in English for occupational purposes. In short, English language and literature teaching should be ‘de- institutionalized.’

A Journey of Indian English Novels

Journal Article Walsh, W., Indian Literature in English Get access W. Walsh, Indian Literature in English. Pp. xi + 219 (Longman Literature in English Series). London and New York: Longman, 1990. Hardbound £17.95; paperbound £8.95. Nick Mirsky Nick Mirsky London Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Notes and Queries, Volume 38, Issue 2, June 1991, Pages 257–258, https://doi.org/10.1093/nq/38.2.257 Published: 01 June 1991

BackgroundWith the deepening of international cultural exchanges, the issue of cultural identity anxiety caused by it has also become a research hotspot. In the context of China, where foreign language education predominantly revolves around the teaching of English, a singular approach has led to an intensified experience of cultural identity anxiety among students throughout their learning journey.Subjects and MethodsTo explore the impact of cultural identity on students’ anxiety disorders in English language and literature teaching, this study randomly selected 120 students from a certain university to conduct a questionnaire survey on cultural identity anxiety. Then, a cultural identity module was added to the English language and literature teaching of these 120 students, and the experiment lasted for two months. After the experiment, a questionnaire survey was conducted again on cultural identity anxiety among 120 experimental students. Analyze the anxiety relief of students based on the survey results.ResultsThe experimental results showed that before the experiment, 33 out of 120 students had mild cultural identity anxiety, 53 had moderate anxiety, 17 had severe anxiety, and 17 had no anxiety. After teaching on cultural identity, the number of students who did not experience anxiety about cultural identity increased to 41 out of 120, with 65, 12, and 2 students experiencing mild, moderate, and severe anxiety, respectively. After receiving cultural identity education, students’ anxiety in learning English language and literature has been alleviated.ConclusionsCultural identity education in English language and literature teaching can alleviate students’ anxiety.

Creole... English: West Indian Writing as Translation — This paper looks at the use of language(s) in Indo-Caribbean (i.e., West Indian of East Indian descent) writings. West Indian writers are Creole, in every sense of the term: born in (former) British colonies, they have a hybrid culture and a hybrid language. They operate from within a polylectal Creole language-culture continuum which offers them a wide and varied linguistic range (Creole to Standard English) and an extended cultural base ("primitive" oral culture to anglicized written culture). Indo-Caribbean writers, however, have access, not only to the Creole language-culture continuum, but also to the pre-colonial cultural, linguistic and religious traditions of their ancestors who came from India in the 19th century. But if Creole is the mother-tongue of all West Indians, English is the only language they know to read and write. West Indian literature in English constitutes an intricately woven textile of Creole and English : a hybrid writing made possible through the translation of Creole experience into English; oral Creole culture into written English; the Creole language into the English language. In fact, West Indian literature in English can be considered self-translation, for which the presence of the author as the translator gives authority to the hybridized product, a true extract of the West Indian writer and his Caribbean language-culture.

The study explores the impact of the Arabizi phenomenon on English writing by Arab English Learners. Due to the popularity of social networks, Arab students combine Roman numbers and letters to produce a new writing code with unconventional rules. The study is significant because most researchers studied the impact of Arabizi on the Arabic language. In contrast, this study focused on the effect of Arabizi on English writing by Arab learners. The study sample consisted of twenty sophomore female students majoring in the English language at one of the Jordanian governmental universities. The main research questions are how Arabizi affects English writing and the justification behind the continuity of this new writing code. The researcher analysed samples of the intervention of Arabizi on writing in English to answer the first question. To answer the second question, the researcher interviewed the sample members to investigate the reasons for the continuity of this new writing code. The study results concluded that not all English foreign language learners use Arabizi, while others use it regularly for several reasons, although it affects their English writing. By the end of the study, the researcher presents recommendations for linguists and English language teachers.

The teaching of English language and literature not only focuses on developing students’ English language proficiency but also emphasizes their understanding and cognition of the cultural connotations behind the English language. This dual focus aims to cultivate students’ cross-cultural communication skills and practical English skills. The application of the situational teaching method can create corresponding learning scenarios based on English language knowledge, thereby enriching students’ learning experiences and understanding within these scenarios. This method has significant advantages in enhancing the effectiveness of English language and literature teaching. Consequently, this paper first analyzes the significance of applying the situational teaching method in university-level English language and literature instruction. It then proposes several strategies for implementing this method, with the goal of enhancing students’ language awareness, cultural literacy, and comprehensive English skills.

At a time when artificial intelligence and machine learning are intruding into human life abundantly, leveraging the benefits of ICT usage in the teaching of English language and literature can only be a right step forward. As students these days are being exposed to intelligent gadgets and the Internet from early days, using advanced digital media in teaching will certainly keep them better engaged and may foster active learning, by limiting their distractions. While core English language skills can best be taught using innovative audio and video tools, English literature classes can certainly be made more interesting and hence engaging by using those digital innovations. The rising popularity of e-books over the hardbound books attests a paradigm shift in the way students of this generation have adapted to the ICT usage. This paper intends to establish the fact that ICT usage in English language and literature classrooms shall complement the study habits of the students of this era, thus ensuring their academic excellence.