Journal of NELTA Gandaki

English in Nepal: Attitudes Towards Nepali English or Other Varieties of English

Shankar Dewan — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Since the emergence of varieties of English, varying debates and discussions about their formal features, functions, and roles have persisted worldwide. This quantitative survey research aims to identify the attitudes of Nepali speakers of English towards Nepali English (NE) and other varieties of English. Using the survey questionnaire, the researcher collected primary data through online and face-to-face modes from one hundred participants sampled randomly, out of which fifty participants were the English language teachers from different schools and community campuses and fifty participants were Master level students, including those students pursuing their Master level thesis from a community campus of Morang district. The participants’ attitudes were analyzed and interpreted in terms of intelligibility, nature of standard, identity, practicality, and acceptance. The study showed that most participants were positive towards NE and most of them responded that they can better understand English spoken by NE speakers than British English (BE) or American English (AE) native speakers. However, majority of them were not against BE or AE in terms of intelligibility, nature of standard, and practicality though they supported NE more.

Amor Fati and Memento Mori in Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: The Synthesis of Stoicism

Sabindra Raj Bhandari — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This article examines the philosophy of Stoicism in Marcus Aurelius’ philosophical work Meditations. Stoicism empowers us to embrace the pleasures and pains that come in our life without any reaction. It creates a mental disposition that leads to the stage of equanimity. Meditations exposes the power of stoic virtues like Amor fati (love of fate) and the Memento Mori (remember that you will die). These virtues pave the path for the cardinal virtues like wisdom, moderation, courage, and justice. The stoic virtues make us realize that we are in the abyss of infinity, and we do not exist only for ourselves. Aurelius’ Meditations muses on these great mysteries of life, echoing the vibrations of eastern and western lyre of Stoic philosophy. This article implements a qualitative approach to research, and interpretive paradigm to crystallize the radiance of stoic wisdom in Meditations. It is equally significant to discuss the applications of Stoic norms in the pedagogy that transform the junior citizens into the new humans to face the challenges of the modern age.

Rethinking English as Medium of Instruction Policy in Multilingual Classrooms

Krishna Kumar Khatri, Bhim Prasad Regmi — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This paper reports the results of a study that unpacked teachers’ experiences and challenges adopting EMI policy in the public schools’ multilingual classrooms. Building on a phenomenological design, we selected two primary level teachers purposively and collected data through in-depth interviews. Drawing upon the thematic analysis and interpretation of the data, the study revealed that teachers perceived EMI as a tool for achieving English language proficiency for the students and a means for the public schools to compete with their private counterparts. Contrarily, EMI in the public school’s multilingual classrooms was found to be practised just as slogan and insufficient for effective students’ participation in classroom learning. Since EMI leads multilingual learners towards monolingual direction, it has posed problems to both the teachers and students due to the low English language proficiency. The study implies that the EMI policy in the lower grades of public schools should be implemented considering the linguistic and cultural milieus of the students.

Linguistic Hybridity: The Use of Code Mixing in Nepali Folk Pop Songs

Mohan Singh Saud — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Code mixing of two or more languages has become a common phenomenon in Nepali folk pop songs. In this context, this study discussed the phenomenon of mixing multilingual terms in Nepali folk pop songs and the reasons for mixing such codes from other languages. This qualitative phenomenological study along with situation analysis used documents and unstructured interviews as the data collection tools. I selected 12 Nepali folk pop songs purposively for analysis. They include Baduliko Khutko (“Sound of a Hiccup”), Champa (“Champa girl”), “Hello Hello”, Meri Chhoretti (“My Girl Friend”), Mudda Haldincchu (“File a Case”) and Rato Rato Khursani Piro Chha (“Red, Red Pepper Hot”), Chorut Salkauane (“Light a Cigarette”),“Cocacola Figure” and DJ Bajako (“Playing DJ”), Daru Sadkaune (“Gulping Local Wine”) and Hi Kali (“Hello Beauty”), and Tension Naleu Yaar (“Don’t be in Tension, Friend”). These songs were played in the audio laboratory to identify the multilingual terms used by the Nepali composers and musicians in Nepali folk pop songs and analyzed in terms of the phenomenon of code mixing. Two language teachers and one folk pop singer were interviewed to explore the reasons for code mixing. The result shows that the young generation is mostly attracted towards the folk pop songs with code mixing, and such songs become popular among the youths due to their multilingual flavour. Nepali folk songs have been influenced by the postmodernist tradition, fashion and technological influence. The trend of code mixing in Nepali folk pop songs may lose the linguistic purity thereby resulting linguistic hybridity.

Exploring the Challenges Faced by the Bachelor’s level Students in Reading English Textbooks

Hari Prasad Tiwari — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Reading textbooks written in second or foreign language is considered more challenging than written in reader’s mother tongue. If the textbooks are written considering the level of the students, they read and comprehend the texts without extra effort. With this in mind, the study tries to explore the challenges faced by the bachelor level second year students while reading the textbook ‘Readings for the New Horizons’. The participants of this descriptive phenomenological study consisted of 15 students studying specialization English in Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) second year. I employed purposive sampling to select the participants and unstructured interview to collect the data. The collected data was transcribed and thematized and findings of the study were presented and analyzed employing descriptive techniques of qualitative data analysis. The findings revealed that students consider unfamiliar words as the major challenge followed by length of the reading texts, less proficient in English, sentence structure, content included in the textbook, number of lessons or reading texts incorporated in the textbook and lack of reading habits. The teachers need to involve students in intensive reading to overcome the challenges and to develop the habit of reading texts written in second language.

Language as an Identity Marker in Sumnima: A Socio-Linguistic Perspective

Bhanu Bhakta Sharma Kandel — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

BP Koirala’s novel Sumnima has a special use of language made as an identity marker between the characters of two major cultural groups: Brahmins and Kirats. The researchers have studied Sumnima from different other perspectives like Freudian psychoanalysis, humanism, nationalism and existentialism among others. However, the power of language used in it and the sociolinguistic influence created on human communities through the characters has been almost ignored. The main objective of studying the novel for this article is to find what effect has been created through language by the novelist in socio-cultural phenomenon and how language generates power and social status. The critical insights of socio-linguistics have been used to analyze the primary text. The researcher has found that the main function of language is not only as a means of communicating one’s ideas and feelings in day-to-day life but it has social, cultural and even psychological functions to perform. It is a very strong socio-cultural element that does not only guide the human society but also provides its users the whole array of knowledge and perception that function as one’s identity marker in the society. It has its effect on all human identity, knowledge and other aspects of life including human unconscious, culture, practices, social status, personal attainment and exercise of power. The way it creates and exercises power can be used as a teaching pedagogy as well.

Mentoring Practices of Novice English Teachers

Bhim Lal Bhandari — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Mentoring is a professional rapport in which an experienced professional supports novice teachers in the premature phases of their profession to develop and progress their teaching career by sharing their teaching skills, experiences and knowledge. This article examines the English language teachers’ understanding and practices of mentoring along with my experiences. I employed a descriptive phenomenological research design to explore the lived experiences of teachers about mentoring. Four English teachers teaching at the secondary level were purposively selected as the participants for the study from two community schools of Rupandehi, Nepal. I used interviews as a technique for collecting information from the participants. The finding of the study shows teachers’ positive mentoring experiences as they are satisfied with mentoring practices. The study also shows that the common mentoring practices the English teachers employed were peer support, profession-related workshops, training, conferences and seminars. The study may contribute to boost professional competency in their teaching career having effective mentoring experiences and practices with some insightful ideas.

Pedagogical Implications of Gha͂tu Folk Dance in EFL Classes

Raj Kumar Gurung — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

This paper proposes teaching Gha͂tu folk dance as a performing art in EFL classes for effective teaching and learning activities. Like dance performance, language skills are also performing arts. The study examines the English language proficiency of intermediate students in general. Their performance is not as satisfactory as expected. One major finding of the study is that the relationship between teachers and students and students to students is not harmonious. Gha͂tu can play a catalytic role in maintaining the relations between teachers and learners. This cultural activity is the source of good human relations, good coordination, patience, group work, devotion, submissiveness and many more. This article explores how this cultural activity enhances the teaching-learning activities in EFL classes, what factors are affecting students’ performance, and how Gha͂tu inspires teaching-learning pedagogies. But it has not been studied from this perspective yet. So, Gha͂tu is to be introduced in the syllabus. The study employs the human relations theory to interpret and analyze this Gha͂tu cite and relate it to this research. Teaching Gha͂tu folk dance in EFL classes can create an exciting environment as it is a new teaching pedagogy. This makes all the students actively participate in teaching-learning activities. Gha͂tu can make classroom activities effective, active, and interactive if it is introduced in the syllabus. The active participation of both language and literature students enhances the English language proficiency in EFL classes.

Emergence of Nepalese English: A Case of Short Stories

Prakash Bhattarai — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The wide use of English language around the globe in the recent decades has generated different varieties of English language with their own distinctive features; one of such varieties is Nepalese English. Several English literary texts written by Nepalese writers along with different other factors are contributing to establish Nepalese English as a different variety of English. Analyzing six English short stories written by three Nepali writers, this article examined the Nepalese English used in the short stories to find out their distinctive features. The stories were analyzed and interpreted using interpretative research paradigm. After the analyses, it was found that there is code mixing and code switching (Nepali and English) in the stories; Nepali names are given to the characters to give real flavor of Nepaleseness and the short stories reflect the Nepalese societies in terms of the condition of women, development, education and employment.

Blending Moodle and Closed Facebook Group in Interdisciplinary Reading Course: A Collaborative Action Research

Ashok Sapkota — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Learning management system has been an innovative practice in Nepalese higher education to foster interaction and keep track of day-to-day teaching-learning activities. This article explores using technology applications: Moodle and closed Facebook group in face-to-face class for promoting participation in an interdisciplinary reading course and to find out students’ perception in blending Moodle in face-to-face class. The research study was mainly based on collaborative action research. The primary sources of data were collected from the use of Moodle as learning management system. The students of four intact classes (consists 120 students) were selected purposively under department of English Education, University Campus, Kirtipur. The systematically collected narratives and observation have been analyzed and interpreted descriptively. This study found that the basic tutorials in using technology is prerequisite for the students in using the basics of moodle, email log and the ways to interact on reading text in Moodle platform as a part of pre-instructional activity. Many students felt that they come from remote area, have studied in the technology outreached area, cannot explore the resources, and feel hesitation in exploring the technological tools. In addition, the use of resources in the Moodle and blend of closed Facebook group was found to be highly motivating and resourceful for both the low- level learners and high-level readers in assisting resources.