Promoting Participatory Learning Through Activity-Based Teaching

English has always occupied a unique position in the education system in India. The concept of its inception, right from the primary level, justifies its global position . Students are exposed to the grammatical intricacies of the English language by gradations all through their primary, high school and higher secondary levels of education. A good majority of the learners aim at completing their higher secondary course just for the sake of a decent percentage and hence manage to obtain marks without sufficient knowledge of the language. In the case of native medium learners, there is an upward graphical surge that shows an increasing number who move out of school with a good percentage but remain handicapped in communication. At the undergraduate level, when students are compelled to switch over to English as their medium of education,  it becomes extremely difficult to cater to the academic demands. The regular teaching patterns, heavy syllabus and expected input to create a sense of fear which leads to lack of confidence and uncertainty, especially among students who hail from rural backgrounds and native medium of education.     

This research paper proposes to present an activity-based approach to promote participatory learning, using informal teaching patterns through simple activities, to motivate learners and produce better results by assisting them both educationally and morally, thereby creating a conducive classroom atmosphere. It has been implemented in a class of forty-five and has found to be motivating and effective. Students are educated to learn by learning how to learn. In the words of Tolstoy, “The difference between education and training lies solely in the coercion which training claims as its right. Training is forcible, education is free. (295)