‘English is India’s national foreign language’

English is our national foreign language, and we must learn it alongside our regional languages and technology, felt the speakers at a conference on ‘Use of Mass Media Culture in English Language Teaching, Training, and Learning’, organised by English Teachers Forum-Bharath in collaboration with the Department of English at the Chaitanya Bharati Institute of Technology (CBIT).

A retired professor from the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) and the founding president of the English Teachers Forum-Bharath V. Prakasham argued that English must be learn along with regional lanaguages and technology was an important tool to take the language to everyone.

President of RTV Ravi Prakash remarked that teaching 16th-century poetry as part of English education is impractical for generation-Z students, who tend to spend their leisure time engaging with various forms of mass media, including social media.

English Teachers Forum-Bharath president K. Venkat Reddy, general secretary Anuradha, conference convener Suvarna, director of Student Affairs & Progression at CBIT B. Linga Reddy and head of the Department of English Shagufta were the other speakers.

The conference featured over 100 research papers presented by scholars from India and abroad, covering various sub-themes related to the main topic. Mr. K. Venkat Reddy moderated a panel discussion on “Mass Media as a Multimodal and Multilingual Catalyst for Language Teaching and Training: Opportunities and Challenges.”