A Faculty Development Program (FDP) titled “Engaging with Texts in the Language Classes- A Hybrid Approach” was organised by the Amity School of Languages, Amity University Gurugram on 24th May 2018.
Dr Kiran Chaudhry, Professor and Ex-Chairperson, Centre for French and Francophone Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi was invited as the Resource Person for conducting the FDP.
Prof (Dr) Ashok Tiku, Head of the Department, Amity School of Languages, welcomed the participants and guests on the occasion. Introducing the Resource Person to the participants, Prof. Tiku mentioned that, Dr Kiran Chaudhry is one of the most renowned academicians in the domain of French and Francophone studies across the world. Her varied research interests include conducting research on teaching methodology of languages, culture in a multilingual context, translation studies, Culture Studies, Applied Linguistics and Francophone Studies etc. Besides, Dr. Chaudhary is also the recipient of many awards and honours for her unparalleled research contribution.
Dr Kiran Chaudhry explained that, today language teaching is considered different from the teaching of literature, though in practice, one cannot divide the two. She discussed different paradigms of the literary texts and essayed the journey of change in the definition of a ‘literary text’ over time; due to which, today, there is a kind of ‘hybridity’ in the genre of literary text.
According to Dr. Kiran, “Language has to be tasted in its authenticity”. Building upon this, she suggested the idea of integrating literary texts in language classes, along with the fabricated texts that are specially designed to teach the language. She also stressed upon the need to change the stereotypes in teaching language and include Para-literature like women diaries, graphic novels (comics), autobiographies and travelogues in language teaching classes.
The resource person, Dr. Chaudhary also pointed out that the “Jug and Mug Theory” has become irrelevant in context of teaching of languages today. In contrast, according to her, pluri-lingualism has become an important tool of language learning today.
In her second session, Dr Kiran Chaudhry discussed different reading models. She told the participants that ‘reading’ should be considered as an “acte de décodage” - a cognitive process while comprehension should be regarded as the product.
As reading is still the most neglected activity in teaching of languages, an attempt was made to explain this de-coding exercise to participants. For the purpose, three reading models were discussed in detail. These were: Bottom-up approach (Text driven), Top-down approach (Reader driven) and Hybrid approach (Mix of both).
Gradually, the speaker drew the attention of the participants towards the role of teachers in enhancing the cognitive abilities of students. For this purpose, the participants were told to come up with Pre-reading Task (Prediction and-viewing through parallel text), While-reading Task (Giving sign-post questions) and Post-reading Task (Write a summary of the text, etc.)
The Workshop was very successful and the participants had a great learning experience. It ended with a formal vote of thanks to the resource person.