Teaching a language in a diverse classroom presents both challenges and opportunities, contingent on the teacher's capabilities. It is widely recognized that bilingualism/multilingualism provides cognitive advantages to teachers. Initially, the new language being taught may not capture learners' interest, but they gradually develop an attraction as they learn it step by step and receive praise or appreciation for their accomplishments.

Importance of English Language

English in India is a global language in a multilingual country. According to NCF 2005, a variety and range of English teaching situations prevail here owing to the twin factors of teachers' proficiency in English and pupils’ exposure to English outside school. The goal of second language acquisition is attainment of basic proficiency in English and later development of language into an instrument for abstract thought and knowledge acquisition through literacy. We must understand that diversity of language poses both challenges and opportunities to English instructors in India. More work and effort are needed. All teachers should be proficient to impart teaching in English in ways appropriate to their situation and levels based on some knowledge of language learning.

Major Challenges of Teaching English in India

1. Overcrowded Classrooms

   • Overcrowded classrooms generally reduce the teacher's ability to teach English effectively and pay individual attention to the learners.
   • Students come from diverse socio-linguistic and socio-cultural backgrounds, making grouping difficult.
   • Creating congenial groups for effective learning becomes a challenge.

2. School Environment

   • The English language teaching needs a new and functional environment, which may be hard to establish.
   • Peer teaching, role play, and group activities are rare in Indian classrooms.
   • Classes often listen passively and learners are not encouraged to ask questions.

3. School Curriculum

   • English teaching in India has historically been text-oriented, resulting in poor language proficiency in writing and speaking English.
   • Learners fail to write in acceptable English or converse fluently.

4. Faulty Reading Habits

   • Faulty reading habits among learners hinder concentration and comprehension.
   • Some students read by tracing words with their fingers, which is distracting.
   • Backward reading and low murmuring hinder proper reading practice.

5. Lack of Practice

   • Students face challenges with the vast vocabulary and numerous homophones and phrasal verbs in English.
   • Correcting spellings and pronunciation remains a challenge for teachers.

6. Exam-Oriented Approach

   • The English language syllabus is focused solely on examination preparation.
   • This results in limited emphasis on raising students' communicative competence.

Appreciating Individuality

Appreciating the individuality of each student is important. While generalizations sensitize us to important differences between groups, each individual student has unique values, perspectives, experiences, and needs.

Cultural Awareness

• The teacher should be aware of how their own cultural influences, language, social interests, goals, and values might impact their teaching approach.
• Understand how students' cultural backgrounds affect their perceptions, self-esteem, values, classroom behavior, and learning.
• Make students feel welcomed, affirmed, respected, and valued in the classroom.

Communication and Language Patterns

• Learn students' patterns of communication and various dialects that affect their classroom learning.
• Understand how second language learning affects their acquisition of literacy.
• Teachers' knowledge of students' diverse cultures should inform their teaching and contribute to a caring attitude, increasing student participation in the learning process.

Socio-Psychological Support

• Make extra efforts to address socio-psychological problems of students by motivating them and giving them responsibilities.
• Encourage interaction sessions between teacher and students.

Language Practice

• Converse in English with the learners; engage them in day-to-day conversations to help them learn through practice.
• Plan lessons extensively in advance, including examples that reflect different cultures, experiences, genders, etc., to involve all students in learning.

Varied Teaching Methods

• Use different teaching methods like group discussions, collaborative learning, and fun activities to meet the variety of learning needs.

Collaboration with Parents

• Collaborate with parents and caregivers on children’s literacy development; avoid relying on preconceived notions about the importance of literacy within students' families.

Children Suffering from Various Disorders (Learning Disabilities)

Introduction

Some students face unique challenges that make learning in a traditional classroom difficult. These challenges can include visual or hearing impairments, attention deficit disorder, physical handicaps, chronic illnesses, and various learning disabilities.

Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a learning disability in reading. Basic reading problems occur due to difficulty in understanding the relationship between sounds, letters, and words. Reading comprehension problems arise when there is an inability to grasp the meaning of words, phrases, and paragraphs.

Dyscalculia (Learning Disabilities in Math)

Learning disabilities in Math vary greatly depending on the child's other strengths and weaknesses. A child's ability to do Math can be affected by language learning disabilities, visual disorders, or difficulties with sequencing, memory, or organization.

Dysgraphia

Dysgraphia involves learning disabilities in writing, which can include the physical act of writing or the mental activity of comprehending and synthesizing information. Basic writing disorder refers to physical difficulty forming words and letters, while expressive writing disabilities indicate a struggle to organize thoughts on paper.

Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia refers to problems with movement and coordination, such as cutting, writing, or gross motor skills like running or jumping. This motor disability affects the output activity related to the brain's communication with the necessary limbs for completing actions.

Asphasia and Dysphasia

Language and communication learning disabilities involve the ability to understand or produce spoken language. Language-based learning disorders can manifest in problems with verbal language skills, fluency of speech, understanding the meaning of words, parts of speech, and directions.

Auditory Processing Disorder

Auditory Processing Disorder is characterized by an inability to distinguish subtle differences in sound or hearing sounds at the wrong speed, making it difficult to relate to words and understand basic concepts in reading and writing.

Visual Processing Disorder

Visual Processing Disorder includes problems in visual perception such as missing minor differences in shapes, reversing letters or numbers, skipping words or lines, and having difficulties in eye-hand coordination. Visual perception issues can affect both gross and fine motor skills, reading comprehension, and math skills.

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

ADHD is not a learning disability, but it can disrupt learning. Children with ADHD often have problems sitting still, staying focused, following instructions, and completing tasks.

Autism

Difficulty in mastering certain academic skills can be due to developmental disorders such as Autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Children with autism may struggle with communication, reading body language, learning basic skills, making friends, and making eye contact.

Language Difficulties, Errors and Disorders

Language difficulty is known by many names: language delay, language disability, lan- guage impairment, specific language impairment. Language disorders can be classi- fied according to the aspect of language (impaired phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and/or pragmatics,) its severity (mild, moderate, or severe), and whether it affects comprehension (receptive language), production (expressive language), or both. Developmental language disorder (sometimes called language delay) is a condi- tion wherein a child does not learn language as quickly as his/her peers. Children with developmental language disorders learn language in the same sequence as their nor- mally developing peers, but the pace is delayed.
It is important to note that a language disorder is not the same as a hearing issue or a speech disorder. Children with language disorders typically have no trouble hearing or pronouncing words. Their challenge is mastering and applying the rules of language, such as grammar. They aren’t simply late talkers.
There are three kinds of language disorders: receptive language issues involve dif- ficulty understanding what others are saying; expressive language issues involve difficulty expressing thoughts and ideas; mixed receptive-expressive language issues involve difficulty understanding and using spoken language.
Learners with expressive and receptive disorders have language skills below the expected level for their age.

• Expressive language disorder (also referred to as expressive language impair- ment) means learners have difficulty with verbal and written expression. They have difficulties with the grammatical aspects of spoken language, such as using the correct verb tense (they might say ‘I go’ when they mean ‘I went’) and com- bining words to form accurate phrases and sentences. They produce much shorter phrases and sentences and their vocabulary is limited. Many children with expres- sive language disorder will have an accompanying receptive language disorder, meaning that they have difficulty in understanding language. They don’t seem to follow verbal instructions, lack interest in reading, are unable to understand com- plicated sentences and tend to repeat words or phrases. Children with expressive language disorder are usually below the average level for their age in:
  • Using noticeably fewer words and sentences than children of a similar age 
  • Using shorter, simpler sentence construction than children of a similar age 
  • Having a limited and more basic vocabulary than children of a similar age 
  • Frequently having trouble finding the right word -Using non-specific vocabulary such as ‘this’ or ‘thing’ 
  • Using the wrong words in sentences or confusing meaning in sentences 
  • Relying on standard phrases and limited content in speech 
  • Sounding hesitant when attempting to converse 
  • Repeating (or echoing) a speaker’s words 
  • Being unable to come to the point or talking in circles 
  • Having problems with retelling a story or relaying information in an organised or cohesive way 
  • Being unable to start or hold a conversation and not observing general rules of communicating with others 
  • Having difficulty with oral and written work, and school assignments.
• Receptive language disorder is an impairment in the comprehension of a spoken, written, gestural or/or other symbol system. Children with a receptive language disorder can have difficulty with any of the following: 
  • Understanding what gestures mean 
  • Following directions 
  • Understanding questions -Identifying objects and pictures 
  • Taking turns when talking with others 
  • Understanding the order of words in a sentence 
  • Understanding plurals and verb tenses 
  • Understanding age-appropriate vocabulary and knowledge about objects and sequence of events 
  • Knowledge of the goals or functions of language (e.g. to obtain a desired object, tell a story, ask questions, comment) 
  • Knowledge of how to use language to achieve goals (e.g. appropriately using language to get a desired object) 
  • Carrying out cooperative conversations (e.g. perspective-taking and turn-taking)

Errors

An error is language that violates a target language rule. A mistake is a previously learned grammar point, vocabulary word, or phrase which the student uses incorrectly.
Errors are caused due to lack of understanding, first language interference and over generalisation. Errors are classified according to:

• modality (level proficiency in the 4 skills: speaking, writing, reading, listening) 
• linguistic levels (i.e., pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, style) 
• form (e.g., omission, insertion, substitution) 
• type (systematic errors/errors in competence vs. occasional errors/errors in performance) 
• cause (e.g., interference, interlanguage) 
• norm vs. system

Errors can be systematic and non-systematic. Unsystematic errors occur in one’s native language and are called mistakes, which do not make a difference to the language learning process. Systematic errors occur in a second language and are due to the fact that the learner uses structures from his mother tongue. These errors are significant in three ways:

• to the teacher: they show a student’s progress 
• to the researcher: they show how a language is acquired and what strategies the learner uses. 
• to the learner:

Types of Errors
L2 learners, from different L1 backgrounds, often make the same kinds of errors when learning the L2. The transfer of patterns from the L1 is only one of the major sources of errors. There are other causes for errors, such as developmental errors, overgeneraliza- tion errors, and simplification errors, which constantly affect interlanguage.

• Developmental errors are made by learners acquiring their L1 (E.g. “a cat go”). 
• Overgeneralization errors are caused by trying to use a rule in a context, where it does not belong. (E.g. “She buyed a dress.”). 
• Simplification errors are caused by simplifying or leaving out some elements (E.g. in the past tense leaving out the -ed “ he celebrate diwali”) 
• Interference errors are caused due to transfer from the L1. (E.g. “On the back of his body has big packet”.

Difficulties in Writing

There are 4 types of written errors:

• Mechanical errors occur in spelling, capitalization and punctuation. These occur when the learner is writing fast, focusing on the content, rather than the form. Using a dictionary and/or computer spellcheck helps improves spelling errors. Although mechanical errors do not affect comprehension, they give a negative input on the writer’s academic capabilities
• In Grammar mistakes, Mother-tongue interference, generally, leads to these errors. These include errors in verbs, such as incorrect tense choice, incorrect tense form); article errors, as these do not exist in their mother tongue and word order. Grammar mistakes in writing affect comprehension. Often the meaning of a structure is clear, even if it is grammatically incorrect. Example: “I offed the fan”, although grammatcally incorrect, conveys the intended meaning.
• Usage mistakes is a word or several words in a sentence that is grammatically possible, but not usually allowed in standard English. Such errors occur when students look up a word in their own language and select the wrong English equivalent for the meaning they wish to express.
• Faulty usage is word-for-word translation into English from the mother tongue. Example : ‘throw over’ for ‘over ‘throw’. For example: “The dictator was thrown over (overthrown) in a people’s revolt.” These errors make it difficult to under- stand the communication. Usage errors lessen by reading extensively.

Difficulties in Reading

• There is reliable evidence that reading comprehension difficulty occurs frequently in children who are actually good decoders and spellers. The breakdown in reading comprehension can occur for any number of reasons. First, to properly comprehend a written passage, a learner must be able to decode the words on the page. Second, the learner needs to hold the information in working memory long enough for the information to be more extensively processed. Third, the learner must have adequate vocabulary, grammar and syntactical skills to organize and interpret the written message efficiently. Fourth, the learner needs to access higher order thinking skills to process the written message and go beyond the surface layer of the text and infer possible meaning.
• Research indicates that children with reading difficulties have poor inference skills. To infer what’s happening in a story is an important cognitive skill. It helps the reader to go beyond the surface meaning of a text and to go deeper and discover the author’s hidden meaning. Children with poor comprehension skills don’t read between the lines. Poor inferencing skills could result from poor background knowledge, weak vocabu- lary and semantic word knowledge, and incomplete knowledge of story grammar and prediction.

Difficulties in Listening

• has trouble following spoken directions, especially if they’re more than one step 
• often asks speakers to repeat what they’ve said
• is easily distracted, especially by background noise or loud and sudden noises 
• has trouble with reading and spelling, which involve understanding sounds 
• has difficulty with oral problems 
• has trouble following conversations 
• has difficulty learning songs or nursery rhymes 
• has trouble remembering details of what was read or heard

Difficulties in Speaking

• Wrong intonation when learners ask a question that sounds like a statement, using a falling instead of rising tone. Example: “Did you correct the exam papers”. This makes the question sound like a statement or an incomplete sentence. 
• Wrong stress on syllables Placing stress on the wrong syllable. Example: in the word “magazine”, stressing the syllable ‘zine’, instead of the syllable’mag’. 
• Wrong Stress on Words stress is based on how the words are spelt exactly the same, but have a different meaning. Learners need to learn to look for contex- tual clues around that word, in order to determine the correct way to pronounce it. For example, with the word “record,” there is a different stress based on the meaning, whether we wish to refer to the noun of a piece of music or to the verb for the actual act of putting in writing a piece of information. 
• Vowel and consonant sounds English language learners need to distinguish between vowels and consonants. After learning these most basic letter sounds, they have to learn that these letters do not always make the same sound. The pronunciation of vowel and consonant sounds vary with the word in which they are used. For example: The vowel “a” makes a very different sound in the word “bake” than it does in the word “apple.” Consonants can change, as well. A “t” in the word “tackle” is very different in sound from a “t” in the word “the.” 
• Combined sounds Sometimes when consonants come together, the pronuncia- tion gets confusing. A non-native speaker would see “t” and “h” and want to pronounce those sounds separately. However, they come together to create a blended sound. Another example of this is when the letters “c” and “k” come together in words as a back, rack, pack, tackle, and so forth. The learner would see these two letters as distinct, yet when people speak, he or she hears them as blended together into one sound, which causes confusion. 
• Physical Attributes learners are unaware that speaking English is related to the physical properties of the mouth region. For example, the letters “b” and “p” require speakers to put both their lips together in order to produce the sound.
• Translation Between Languages This is not always possible when trying to learn English. For example, the sounds of “th” and “v” do not have any comparable measure in some Indian languages and they tend to pronounce these sounds incorrectly.

This can be defined as a significant delay in the use and/or understanding of spoken or written language.

Conclusion

Language skills progress from more basic to more complex. The demands for high order language increase across the years. This is the language that, for example, is needed to perform tasks involving such skills as interpretation and reasoning. Some learners do not become identified as language impaired until middle or high school. In middle or high school, speaking, listening, reading and writing are integral parts of education, and more abstract thinking is required. Social interaction with peers may be difficult for children with language delays or disorders. Without treatment, their communication problems will continue and may lead to emotional issues and academic struggles.