BANGALORE: Amidst the din and political polemic about the best time to start teaching English in school, no one, it appears, has thought of asking the experts for inputs on how to go about it. Prathibha Karanth, language acquisition and communication disorders expert, who has done extensive research on learning disabilities in children, and runs a programme to mainstream autistic children, says it is well known that children are capable of learning to speak more than one language in the early years.

Kannada vs. English

The emphasis is on "speech," Dr. Karanth told The Hindu. "There is no need at all for the Kannada vs. English debate; all we need to do is to emphasis speaking and understanding of both languages early in childhood — at the pre-school or early school stage," she said. Literacy skills should be introduced gradually, when the child is reasonably comfortable in the spoken form, particularly where English is concerned.

`Transparent scripts'

Learning to read or write Kannada or other Indian scripts, which are known as "transparent scripts," is not too difficult, because though visually complex, the script and the sound of the language do not conflict with each other.

English, however, is a different cup of tea.

Though with its 26 letters, it seems simple to learn, the irregularities in spelling and pronunciation make learning the language a complex process that can be very disconcerting for a child.

Vast diversity

However, thanks to the cultural, social and linguistic diversity to which the Indian child is exposed to, the felicity to pick up the art of speaking more than one language is virtually innate in most children.

This, Dr. Karanth says, ought to be exploited to make the child conversant in English in the early years, so that when the time comes to become literate in that language, the child is ready to associate the sound and the spelling.

Study

Dr. Karanth who is writing a paper on "The Kaagunita of Kannada — Learning to read and write an Indian Alphasyllabary" for a collection in "Handbook of Orthography," however, points out that there has been ample documentation of reading difficulties in children learning to read and write Kannada as well.

In a 1993 study of poor and good readers in Kannada from urban and rural schools in and near Mysore, 14 dyslexic children were found among 550, she revealed.

As many as 57 were identified as poor readers without any extraneous causes.

Reading, whether in Kannada or English, needs strategies that are not the one-size-fits-all variety.

Dr. Karanth points out that India has a strong oral tradition, which has overridden and inter-twined with the written. The oral tradition, based on verbatim repetition, has also been used to teach the syllabary.

Script-specific methods

The teaching, be it Kannada or English, calls for script-specific methods, but there is no argument about the need to expose children to more than one language, and to create an environment that encourages the learning of these languages.

The Government's policy should stress on how to expose children to the languages, familiarise them with the sound and graduate to the reading level.

This not only keeps language learning trauma-free, but also fulfils the demands of parents clamouring for access to English, Dr. Karanth said.

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