The Emergence of Online Communication and Text Messaging: Threats and Opportunities to English Teaching in India

Dr. B.V.RamaPrasad Associate Professor Department of Postgraduate Studies in English Kuvempu University Shankaraghatta Shivamogga

The emergence of the new technologies that are increasingly being used for communication poses many problems and also opportunities for the teaching of English in India. We hardly have any student even in small places who does not use text messages and/or online chatting. In other words, we have students who use English while communicating through these technologies. One can even make an assumption that most of the use of English by our students is mediated through these technologies which has developed its own vocabulary, spelling, syntax and even discourse features. In the other hand, many of our teachers either do not at all use these technologies for communication in English, or use it very seldom. Thus, the teachers and the students are using English outside the classroom for entirely different purposes and through entirely different mediums. This paper tries to explore the threats that are posed by this situation and also try to suggest the opportunities the new technologies provide for teaching of English in India.