THE PLACE OF LINGUISTICS IN THE MA (ENGLISH) COURSES IN INDIAN UNIVERSITIES
Abstract
English is nearly a four century old language in India and English studies in India is older by more than 190 years. In colonial India English language education was mainly imparted through the literary texts. The committees appointed to review English studies in free India persistently recommended the inclusion of linguistics in English studies at the post graduate (PG) level. The present study, broadly divided into three parts, is a modest attempt to explore the rationale of teaching linguistics at the PG level English studies in India. The first part is a brief review of the efforts of the committees and study groups on English studies in India to incorporate linguistics in the M.A. (English) courses in Indian universities. Since many Indian universities do not offer core papers in linguistics in their M.A. (English) courses, the Curriculum Development Centre in English (1989) observed that ‘Although it is widely recognized that most of those who pass out with M.A. in English join the teaching profession, very little is done to ensure that some preparation for that is made during the M.A. programme’ (p. 15). Apart from a career in teaching, this globalized era offers many new avenues to the students of M.A. (English). After a survey of randomly selected fifty universities, the second part critically evaluates the course content of the core papers in linguistics offered in the M.A. (English)courses in twenty universities across India vis-à-vis the globally changing needs of the students of English. Finally, in the third part of the paper, the place of linguistics in the MA (English) courses in Indian universities and in the M.A. (English) programmes abroad is comparatively viewed.
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