**Disclaimer - These are results from an anonymous survey making the responses and their validity unverifiable. The responses may or may not reflect the actual scenario at IIT Kanpur. The purpose of the survey was to bring these linguistic barriers to notice- but readers should keep in mind the limitations of an anonymous survey - while it allows people to share freely, the claims and their accuracy are not verified**
The IITK community is diverse in terms of language origins. When speakers of varied languages interact, we often experience a barrier to open and free communication. First day of orientation and not understanding what the SGs just blabbered in Hindi. First day of classes, understanding the professor’s English was a bigger hurdle than understanding the course itself. We at Vox, tried to analyze these language barriers on campus within the academic and co-curricular spheres. Read ahead to see what we found.
343 students responded to our survey concerning the language barriers on campus conducted in July 2023. The following infographics depict their language backgrounds and the language they used to complete their board examinations. We see that this gives us the context required. A majority is comfortable with Hindi and English, but what about the students who do not fall into this category? What is being done? Is that sufficient and helpful? What more can be done by the various stakeholders? These are a few questions that we’ve tried to get answers to through this article.
The Impact on Academia
While a majority is fully to fairly comfortable, almost 10% of the students are not comfortable with English, the official medium of instruction in the institute. We further see that 19.8% of the respondents cannot interact with professors, and 9.3% face difficulty understanding lectures because of their inability to communicate confidently in English. These numbers are not mere stats, but represent a harsh reality. With a difficult curriculum like ours, such barriers can make learning almost impossible, and difficult for students to keep up with their peers.
On talking to various professors, we found something similar. Some professors mention that during courses, some students either approach them with difficulty following the course content because it is in English or with a general problem in speaking and understanding English, which could lead to them feeling inferior in their peer groups. The professors, especially those taking English courses(like ELC and ENG), are supportive and suggest movies and books to the students. Some professors also told us that a few of them, especially the ones teaching English courses, suggest movies and books to better cope with English.
Various respondents mention that they fear participating in academic discussions because they lack the confidence to word their thoughts in English. The institute introduced the English Language Courses (ELC 111/112/113) for Y22s in lieu of the previous ENG 112 and COM200 courses aimed at improving proficiency and communication skills in English. However, the effectiveness of these courses is put into question as 57.2% of the respondents (166) who took ELC/ENG courses believe it to be of little or no help in improving their proficiency with the language. Moreover, many mention that the ELC course allotted to them through the English Diagnostic Test, especially ELC113(Advanced), was a surprise because their English is not up to the standard. Even for the COM200 courses, an astounding 72.09% of the respondents(157) who took the course opted for the option “it was a complete waste of my time.”
A few professors agree that there is a limitation of how much of a difference an English course in the curriculum can make for a student. They believe that support from the student community can have a more significant impact. One more observation they pointed out was that the ELC courses (formerly ENG112) offered to help students struggling with English run parallel with the rest of the courses. This is extremely tough on students with a poor grasp of English. They are now expected to comprehend the content and present answers in college-level English in other courses while simultaneously learning the language basics. By the time they get a good grasp on English, most of their semester is already done and dusted, placing them at a disadvantage academically.
The dearth of a suitable environment to practice English is also part of the problem, as many respondents mention in their individual experiences. Ironically, some cite that the TAs and tutors usually stick to Hindi while instructing, unfurling issues for the section of the student community uncomfortable with Hindi.
When asked whether the introduction of courses in regional languages would be beneficial, some professors mentioned that the struggle to work with English is one that cannot be avoided. English is the language of the world today, and in their professional life, students will have to work with it. By taking the lectures in Hindi or mixing Hindi and English, some professors feel that they are not only compromising the institution’s standard of teaching but also delaying the students’ struggle, which they have to face eventually.
The Strain on Social Life
Another vital aspect affected by these language barriers is the social life of students. 16% of the respondents mentioned that they couldn’t participate in various club activities because of this, while another 18.1% faced difficulty in even making friends. This results in a barrier to understanding and speaking both Hindi and English fluently.
15.5% of the respondents have little to no comfort with the Hindi language. The inability to interact fluently in Hindi unfurls another set of issues. A common problem mentioned by the respondents is that the mess workers, maintenance staff, etc., speak only in Hindi. Several also said they have difficulty interacting with new people and participating in campus activities as they are usually conducted in Hindi. Sharah PS, a Malayalam-speaking UG Y22, shares her experience of how she has to take a Hindi-fluent friend with her whenever she has to interact with shopkeepers. Even with some of her friends, it becomes difficult to converse as she can only reply in English. Adding on, she mentions that initially, some people were worse off than her and could have used some help. Another respondent mentions an incident where they went to inquire about a government scheme, and the official asked them to respond only in Hindi. “Even after explaining that we could not, the official told us to learn Hindi, bringing it up multiple times and joking about it.”
Initiatives
Earlier, there were two ways in which students facing difficulties with English were given support. One was the formal help given, which consisted of courses, namely ENG112 and COM200. The other was the unofficial programs, including spoken English classes conducted by DoSA, TTC(Technical Terminology Classes), and ECC(English Communication Classes) conducted by the Institute Counseling Service (ICS).
ENG112 was allocated to students based on their performance in the English Diagnostic Test conducted during the orientation. It was an extra course. Allotted students had to do it when the other students did their HSS Level 1 course. These students also had to do an HSS Level 1 course later. This led to a discrepancy in the student’s curriculum. Due to this, ENG112 was then made into an HSS Level 1 course. The curriculum for ENG112 was not fixed. It usually covered speaking, writing, listening, and reading, with the distribution varying from instructor to instructor. There was a COM200 course (till the Y21 batch), which all students had to take. There were various issues with that course, including the batch size being too big, diversity in proficiency among the students, and the time allotted for the course being insufficient to cover all the required aspects. There was also an issue of ownership of the course, with no department taking responsibility for offering the course for students who failed.
In place of these courses, from the Y22 batch onwards, ELC111(Basic), ELC112(Intermediate), and ELC113(Advanced) have been introduced. Now, all students must take an English course in their first year. The level they have to take is determined by the English Diagnostic Test. However, the help that courses can provide is limited. This was recognized by the officials and the student body as the Institute Counseling service started offering TTC and ECC, and the DoSA started offering spoken English classes. These initiatives used to be of immense help to the students as they provided them with practical solutions. However, the spoken English classes by the DoSA stopped after the instructor who was taking the sessions left campus, and parallelly, the participation in the classes conducted by ICS decreased. Even the professors that we talked to noted this unwillingness of students to learn a new language. Some of them also suggested offering English courses before the start of the 1st semester, maybe in an extended orientation, so that students are better equipped to handle the other courses taught in English.
Another aspect of communication courses prior to the introduction of the new UGARC was the department-level communication courses that aimed to teach students communication skills specific to their respective departments. For example, the Math department taught a course on presenting proofs, while the Electrical department’s communication course centered itself around resume-making, viva, and the likes. These department-level courses have also been discontinued with the Y22 batch, and the basket offered by ELC serves as a more comprehensive replacement. The efficacy of a new system/course is generally decided over 2-3 batches to eliminate special circumstances. Therefore, no significant change or impact of the courses can be looked at based on the feedback of a single batch.
“However, while it is true that no system is by any means perfect, not all of its inefficacy falls on the administration. The efficacy of any system ultimately falls upon the people whom it serves to benefit, and ELC as a whole can only truly serve its purpose if the people who seek to improve their English communication skills truly participate and take its full benefit. Moreover, it is noteworthy that a higher-level ELC course can always be taken as an OE course by students who did a lower-level course previously and are interested in furthering their English communication skills,” said Kinshuk Siyol, student nominee to the Senate Under-Graduate Committee (SUGC).
Another mechanism available for students interested in working on their spoken/written English skills is offered by the Shivani Centre, which was set up in August 2021 with the aim of reintegrating Hindi and other Indian Languages at IIT Kanpur. One of the objectives of Shivani Centre is to help fresher students who completed their schooling/JEE in Hindi adjust to a completely English academia. In addition, for students who are facing issues in interacting with their peers due to a lack of knowledge in Hindi, Shivani Centre offers spoken/written Hindi classes in varying proficiencies. For example, one can learn Hindi formally to the level of writing creative pieces or maybe just learn conversational Hindi to interact with their peers. Besides Hindi, the Shivani Centre also provides opportunities for students to learn other regional languages, such as Tamil, Kannada, or Malayalam.
We also found that EPP, an English Proficiency Programme, used to be conducted for students who wanted to learn or improve their English. It was discontinued when the pandemic began. It was conceptualized and conducted by Prof. Bhaskar Dasgupta with the help of some faculty members and the student body. The program helped diligent students write better English and perform better in the placement season, thus serving as a useful help for the student body. A group led by Prof. Bhaskar Dasgupta is currently working towards reviving the program and is looking for volunteers to join the English team and the technical team, regarding which he will write to the students list shortly.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the language barriers on campus are real and affect students academically and socially. Despite continued efforts like the courses and support services, the barrier persists. Professors, student representatives, students seeking help, everyone agrees that there is a scope for improvement. Improvement here is not limited to the better resources and plans, but also in terms of a more enthusiastic participation by the students these efforts are for. As we see, it also calls for the need of the Campus Junta to be aware of such linguistic differences, and to deal with them empathetically. An attempt to understand and be more inclusive is required. These are not just numbers, but fellow students we see around us struggling. We are left to ponder about the smallest of attempts we can make for the betterment of the situation.
Written by: Abhijit Jowhari, Aditya VS, Gupil Chhabra, Mahaarajan J, Sruthi Subramaniam
Edited by: Kunaal Gautam, Mohika Agarwal
Design by: Mrunmay Suryawanshi, Sachidanand Navik, Vardaan Vig
