Dr. West’s New Method of Teaching English :Its Merits and Demerits

                Dr. Michael Philip West (1888–1973) conducted an extensive research and experiments on the problems of teaching English as a foreign language in India at the time of British rule. Read More Teaching English The new method is the outcome of his research. It stood as a reaction against the Direct Method.

Going into more details, when Dr. West came to visit rural Bengal students (1913- 19) en route teaching job at Teachers’ Training College at Dhaka, West's conclusions about English learning issues in Bengal, India were as follows:

👉Students spent about 10 hours a week on English study with extremely poor results.

👉Only a minority reached the Matriculation class due to health or financial reasons.Read More Teaching English

👉Even in the Matriculation class, students lacked real reading ability, speaking fluency, and writing proficiency in English.

👉A 1919 Calcutta University Commission survey revealed similar concerns, with most respondents favoring more Bengali-medium instruction.

👉West disagreed with the idea of concentrating solely on English, advocating for it as a second language mainly for reading, foreseeing its eventual disappearance as a colloquial language.

👉West believed in improving English instruction but was critical of the "English-only" attitudes of some peers.

👉He argued for cost-effective language training for Englishmen and highlighted the importance of reading skills.

Now Dr. Michael Philip West went through a witch hunt. So, the causes for the weakness in English among matriculate students in Bengali schools, as outlined by West, can be summarized as follows:

Teaching Method: The conventional teaching method involves preparing passages from English readers by translating them into Bengali, with minimal emphasis on English synonyms. This leads to a lack of proficiency in English.Read More Teaching English

Limited English Writing Practice: Boys have minimal practice in writing English. Translation from Bengali to English is infrequent and done laboriously with dictionaries or assistance from others.

Weak Translation Skills: While students can translate English into Bengali, they struggle with the reverse, hindering their ability to understand spoken English and write fluently in the language.Read More Teaching English

Ineffectiveness of Direct Method: The direct method, which emphasizes oral communication, is deemed a failure in Bengali schools due to its demands on teachers and its inability to address complex ideas or abstract words.

 West suggests that teaching English from Bengali into English, rather than the current approach of translating from English into Bengali, could lead to significant improvement in English proficiency among matriculate students in a shorter period. In fact, the traditional teaching approach in Bengali schools focuses more on translation and lacks sufficient English writing and comprehension practice, resulting in limited English proficiency among students. West advocates for a shift in the teaching method to enhance English skills effectively.

               Thus, Dr. West approached the problem of teaching English not from the standpoint of pedagogy, but from the standpoint of social needs of the Indian (Bengali more precisely ) pupil. He holds that, “Indian boys need most of all to be able to read English, than to write it, and lastly to speak it and understood it when spoken”. Read More Teaching English Moreover, he maintains that “learning to read a language is by far the shortest road to learning to speak and write it. “According to him it is easier to acquire a reading knowledge of a language than to acquire a speaking. So the teacher’s chief concern should be to develop the habit of purposeful silent reading in the children and not the habit of oral reading.

               The results of the experiments are extensively documented in Dr. West’s work "Bilingualism" (1926) and served as the foundation for the development of the New Method series of textbooks, first published in 1926. West's educational philosophy centered around a learner-focused approach, yet he held a degree of skepticism regarding the effectiveness of teacher-led instruction. Consequently, he placed significant emphasis on the creation of high-quality textbook materials that could, to some extent, circumvent the need for constant teacher intervention. Basically, The West’s Method puts emphasis on three important elements. First, reading, Secondly, Readers with selected vocabulary and thirdly, judicious use of the mother tongue.

The main features of Dr. West’s New method are as follows:-

1. Reading:

According to Dr. West, Indian children should first be taught how to read English. The teacher should engage them in purposeful silent reading. This would increase the students power of comprehension. In order to develop the habit of purposeful silent reading in the children he provides us with a new type of reading book containing interesting reading matter and a specially selected vocabulary. Read More Teaching English The minimum number as selected  by Dr. West for his readers is 2,280 which has been classified under the following four heads:

(i)                   Essential words – This, it, is, a, shall etc.

(ii)                 Common environmental words – chair, table, glass, bus etc.

(iii)                General Words – good, bad, nice etc.

(iv)               Specific environmental words – tree, garden, river, mountain etc.

The new words have been evenly distributed in the lesson and they are frequently repeated to make students familiar with them. a good number of pictures have also been provided. Dr. West has permitted the use of the mother tongue in his method according to necessity. Read More Teaching English Moreover, there are companion Books with vernacular meaning of the new words. Pupil’s comprehension in reading is measured with the help of comprehension tests. But in preparing his readers Dr. West has not followed any well defined grammatical plan.

Dr. West holds that Supplementary Readers should be used along with the New method readers in order to arose interest in other reading and to give more practice in silent extensive reading but new words should not be occurred in the Supplementary Readers. Read More Teaching English In this method the teacher has to give necessary help when called for.

2. Oral Work:

Dr. West, while stressing silent reading, has made provision for some oral work mainly in the form of reading aloud before silent reading begins. An alternative short primer has been provided for ‘speech training on a sentence method’. He admits that, speaking gives reality to the subsequent reading of the language. The primer is meant for only those teachers who intend to start with a small amount of speech training. Dr. West has taken oral work as a preliminary subsidiary to the art of reading.

3. Training in Speech:

Dr. West has given some scope for training in speech to make his method complete. In order to give a scheme of speech training he has made a distinction between speech and vocabulary. According to him “The ideal speaking vocabulary is the most easily learnt and most easily used set of word which is capable of expressing correctly the largest number of ideas”. The size of the speaking vocabulary is much smaller than that of the reading vocabulary. Dr. West has selected a minimum speaking vocabulary of 1,158 words capable of expressing all our ordinary ideas. Read More Teaching English He has classified these words under two main heads, viz, ‘form’ words and ‘content’ words. Dr. West holds that specific practice in speaking and drill in vocabulary should be given in order to develop the speaking ability in children. In his new method composition books he has provided question, orders and other forms of exercises for this purpose. According to him, no attempt should be made to teach any two-language skills at the same time. He also holds that written work should be correlated with oral work. In the New Method, theoretical grammar is not taught separately, but is used for curative purposes when necessary. Dr. West holds that grammar should be regarded ‘not as a diet, but as a drug’.

                Dr. West considered English as a skill subject and emphasized the principle of specific practice. For this purpose, he wanted teachers to work out different types of exercises and to conduct drills. His Teachers’ Hand Books serve as guidebooks for teachers.

MERITS:

1.        Dr. West was one of those who first paid attention to the selection and grading of vocabulary and took the first step in its reform. Read More Teaching English

2.        West’s New Method is very effective in the teaching of reading through it has some important pedagogical drawback.

3.        In view of the limited time now available for teaching English and considering the fact that most of the Indian children will need only a passive knowledge of it in their future occupations, this method can profitably be employed in teaching the language in India. Read More Teaching English

4.        The graded Readers, companions, composition books, supplementary Readers and Teachers’ Handbooks were all interesting and appeared to be helpful. The practice exercises are quite interesting.

DEMERITS:

1.        Dr. West has over-estimated the value of reading by saying that it by far the shortest road to learning to speak and write it. Reading can assist speaking and writing to some extent by supplying some linguistic materials, but it can not be ‘the shortest road’ to learning then.

2.        If the pupils have to start with reading in the initial stage, the language learning is sure to be dull and lifeless to him. Read More Teaching English So it is un-psychological.

3.         Dr. West’s view that ‘a reading knowledge of a language is easier to acquire than a speaking’ is not supported by the modern educationists. They hold that a speaking knowledge is easier to acquire than a reading or writing. Moreover, ‘children should not begin reading till they have acquired facility in speech and a fairly large vocabulary.

4.        Dr. West has over emphasized the importance of acquiring a vocabulary and has selected the commonest words. But he has neglected the graduated introduction of sentence patterns and also of the phrases and idioms that are essential elements in developing language sense. The frequent use of the same word may develop an artificial style.

5.        This method attaches too much of importance to silent reading. No doubt, in learning of a language, silent reading has an important role. Also this method does not give due importance to the oral work. To neglect oral work in the lower classes is unscientific and un-psychological. Read More Teaching English Moreover, the distintion of speaking and reading can not be maintained in practice.

6.        Dr. West’s new method of teaching English does not help Indian students to achieve the four-fold objectives of language learning as already specified. Among other limitations of the New method the want of the graduated introduction of sentence patterns, the total language, the isolated study of words, the total neglect of grammar and composition, can be mentioned.

Concluding Remarks

 In spite of the above drawbacks, Dr. West’s method can be put to a thorough test. It has done a useful service in the teaching of English in India at early 20th century. Read More Teaching English This method may be effective modern approach even now.

Ardhendu De

References:

Michael West biography. (n.d.). https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/collections/elt_archive/halloffame/west/life/

Calcutta University Commission. 1919. Evidence and Documents. Classified Replies ot the Commissioners’ Questions 8–12 . Report of the Calcutta University Commission, 1917–1919, Volume 10. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India.

West, M. P. (1926, January 1). Learning to Read a Foreign Language.

Learning To  Read A Foreign Language : West,Michael. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (2006, November 15). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/learningtoreadaf030789mbp

Chowdhury, M. Soloman. 1969. ‘Reminiscences of the College’, in Teachers’ Training College, Dacca (eds.). 1969, [168]–[172].