Tess in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Name -            Bhatt Dhara J

Roll No:  -        2

M.A.Part-2 -   Sem-4

Paper -             02, Ec-405

Paper Name – Thomas Hardy

Topic for Assignment      -

Tess in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

--Victim Of social prejudice Male Dominance in Victorian Patriarchal Society---

Submitted To: Dr.Dilipsir Barad

  Department of English,

  Bhavnagar University,

  Bhavnagar.                 

Tess in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

--Victim Of social prejudice Male Dominance in Victorian Patriarchal Society---

Introduction

In, Thomas Hardy wrote in his notebook,

“The best tragedy—the highest tragedy in short—is that of the worthy encompassed by the inevitable. The tragedies of immoral and worthless people are not of the best.”

                       Tess of the D’Urbervilles can be considered to be such a remarkable tragedy as its author defines. As one of the most influential and well-received books in world literature, Tess brought Hardy great fame and honor as well as incurring harsh rebukes from conventional society. In the novel, Hardy portrays a poor innocent country girl who is victimized by the combined forces of Victorian patriarchal society— the injustice of social law, the hypocrisy of social prejudice and the inequality of male dominance, and demonstrates his profound sympathy for Tess, the protagonist, symbolic of rural women who were mercilessly ravaged in male-dominated world. Tess’s tragic fate has evoked generations of readers’ sympathy and aroused their interests in her twisted life journey full of setbacks and mishaps.

“Double moral standard”

                         

“Double moral standard” in sexuality applied to men and women pervade Tess’s life pilgrimage. Tess’s tragic Fate is closely connected with two men’s betrayal and mastery. The bourgeois hypocrisy and the male dominance incarnated in Angel and Alec co-operate in driving Tess to destruction. In the conventional world with a severe view on virginity and chastity, the sense of self-guilt and self-reproach haunts her through her life journey. After sexual violation, the rigid society gives her no chance for regeneration. As Hardy suggests in the novel, “patriarchal society, the habitat of the heroine, is the root of her tragedy, shaping her miserable fate.”

He sympathizes with Tess by arguing that

“Most of her misery had been generated by her conventional aspect.” 

                         He indicates that Tess is the example of the destructive effect of society’s pressures and conventions upon a naturally pure and unstained country girl and that Alec and Angel are personifications of destructive attitudes towards women.

On May, Hardy wrote,

“That which socially is a great tragedy, maybe in Nature no alarming circumstance.”

                        A hardy witness the injustice of social law and the ill effect of male-dominance over women and dramatizes them in the novel through the miserable life of Tess who is crushed by the comprehensive vicious power of society. In the perspective of the conventional world, Tess is an unforgivable sinner whose “terrible sins” are doomed; however, Hardy, cherishing “a thousand pities” for Tess, calls her a pure woman. This is the irony against the hypocritical conventions of the Victorian Age, which restricted man’s nature to such a large extent as it oppressed people, especially women, who were trodden at the bottom of society. Tess is driven to offend the social law, but she responds to the natural law, to her nature.

Male Dominance and Double Moral Standard

                    In a society where men enjoy superiority and privilege, women are no doubt living at the mercy of men. They must submit to men’s will, otherwise they will be punished by the social law and tortured by public opinions. The conceptions of male-dominance and male-superiority pervade Victorian society, imposing pressures upon women who are taken as inferior beings. Tess’s miserable fate is nothing but a “sport” of “the President of the Immortals,” a terrible game played on females by males.

                  In a sense, Tess is tinctured with a tint of feminist who tries to get free from men’s control and find individuality. Tess’s tragedy in a way springs from the conflict between males and females in which females are usually sacrifice.

                                      Alec and Angel serve as the embodiment of men’s inhumanity towards women.Alec bestially violates Tess by sexual attacks; Angel cruelly tortures her by his priggish rejection. Alec’s barbarism and Angel’s hypocrisy, interdependent on each other, are the two irresistible forces driving Tess to her dead end. If Alec physically ruins Tess by depriving her of her virginity, Angel spiritually destroys her bydepriving her of her courage for life and pursuit for love. Alec’s sexual violation destroys Tess’s virginity, which means so much to a girl in Victorian society that she will be pushed to the prejudicial mire if she loses it out of wedlock. “An immeasurable social chasm was to divide our heroine’s personality thereafter from that previous self of hers who stepped from her mother’s door to try her fortune atTrantridge poultry-farm”. Deprivation of virginity makes Tess feel herself as an anomaly in the society, alienated from the moral codes. Obsession of her selfguiltand self-reproach haunts her all her way to death, which conventionally doomed. It is the cost of a horse. A horse can be replaced, but there is no restoration of lost virginity, which foreshadows the pitiful tragedy of the protagonist.

Social Prejudice and Ill Effect

Tess of the D’Urbervilles is the product of Hardy’s fascination with women of beauty, energy and intelligence who find themselves trapped between these gifts, the aspirations such gifts justify, and their society’s assumption that respectable women must be either submissive or obtrusively and harmlessly aspiring. With few exceptions, Hardy’s most interesting characters are his unconventional women including Tess who, so unconventional both before and after, is, predictably both the conventional ruined maid of fiction and a ruined maid like no other that has existed in British fiction. (Casagrande 8)

                                In Tess of the D’Urbervilles: Unorthodox Beauty Peter, Casagrande J mentions that Tess is one of the typical characters in Hardy’s novels who are trapped between their personal aspirations and social assumption and eventually ruined because their unconventional practice confronts with moral codes of the orthodox society and that it is the common motif in many English fictions in which the heroines, usually beautiful and clever, become the scapegoat of social rituals. Tess

Tells such a story and Tess is such a character. In the novel, readers can find that due to her first fall—sexual involvement with Alec, Tess is regarded as an unconventional and unrestrained “fallen” woman and despised and belittled wherever she goes. When she returns to Marlott, various censures attack her. In church, “the people who had turned their heads turned them again as the service preceded; and at last observing her they whispered to each other”.

                            Angel sees Tess as “a visionary essence of woman—a whole sex condensed intones typical form”. He calls her “Artemis, Demeter, and other fanciful names.” Angel’s idealization of Tess separates him from reality. He cannot perceive Tess from the natural perspective, failing to find her natural essence as a true individual in the objective world. In his sight, she is transformed into an intelligent image, a condensation of ideals. Contrary to Alec’s view of sexual object, Angel takes Tess as an incarnation of his womanly purity. Her physical relationship with Alec is replaced by a spiritual one with Angel. She becomes a victim of Angel’s prejudice on marriage. His unrealistic viewpoint on love and marriage enables him to drift in spiritual air and prevents him from marrying Tess both in flesh and soul. Their separation is culturally destined. Tess is doomed to become the scapegoat of Angel’s Fantasy.

                            Angel highlights “double moral standard,” which is thoroughly reflected in his attitude towards Tess the moment he is told of her past, and in his final rejection of Tess due to the same reason. This episode is one of the most important and wonderful parts of the novel, which climaxes the conflict in the novel. On the wedding night, after their confessions of their pasts, Tess forgives his romantic dissipation with a woman in London, but Angel refuses to forgive Tess for her “disgraceful” past. Angel’s refusal is in striking contrast with Tess’s generous forgiveness. They commit the same behavior, but receive different consequences. Angel’s desertion clearly exemplifies the “double moral standard” that prevails in Victorian society in relation to sexual lives and feelings of women.

Conclusion

Tess epitomizes a country girl who is ruined by social prejudice and male dominance centered on the “double moral standard” of sexuality applied to men and women in the late nineteenth century. Like a straw on the torrent of ethic prejudice, she is easily engulfed by the evil power of the society. She is the victim of narrow-mindedness toward the concepts of chastity and virginity, and she is also the sacrifice of male dominance in patriarchal Victorian society. Tess’s tragedy is the archetype of women’s tragedies which are involved with sexuality. Different societies regulate different criteria of “accepted” women. Woman is culturally constructed, rather than biologically defined. Tess is the reflection of the society and Tess is the representative of the women trodden at the bottom of society in certain period of English history. Tess is doomed to perish under the great social injustice towards marriage and sexuality. Her tragedy is triggered by her father’s dream of family glory and closely related with two men’s betrayals and two “falls”, which form the fabric of the story. Alec and Angel are reincarnations of the destructive “double moral standard,” personifying the unjust moralities on women. They are the embodiment and vehicle of combined social forces during the social transformation of England. They cooperate to destroy Tess as a “fallen” woman, a kept mistress and a murderess, respectively by physical invasion and spiritual oppression. Many critics observe that Tess is a novel which challenges the existing social order—a defense of the “fallen” woman as a victim of social prejudice. In Victorian Society, the progress of the moral success of an acceptable woman goes from virgin to conventionally married mother. Tess, as a girl mother and obliged mistress, strays from the well-accepted way of her society. She is predestined to tragedy. It is the invisible pressures emanating from rigid social convention and unfair ethic principles that shape her tragedy and drive her to her end. She is victimized by the combination of social prejudice and male-dominance in patriarchal Victorian society. Tess’s story, to some extent, reflects the rigidity of convention, the harshness of social law and the prejudice of morality in male dominated patriarchal society. Tess deserves the reputation of “the best tragedy—the highest tragedy”, which is defined by the author. In the worldly view, Tess is a “fallen” woman; however, she is essentially pure and naturally unstained. Tess is pure woman as Hardy’s subtitle describes. Tess is tragic but pure.

New Criticism ( 02,401 )

Name -              Bhatt Dhara J

Roll no:  -        2

M.A.Part-2 -   Sem-4

Paper -               02, Ec-401

Paper name – New Literature

Topic for Assignment  -

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger: The Voice of Underclass

—A Postcolonial Dialectics

Submitted To: Dr.Dilipsir Barad

  Department of English,

  Bhavnagar University,

  Bhavnagar.                     

Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger: The Voice of Underclass

—A Postcolonial Dialectics

Introduction

In the post colonial dialectics ‘subaltern’ or ‘underclass’ occupies Prominent place which incorporates the entire people that is Subordinate in terms of class, caste, age, gender, and office, or in any other way. It is the subject position that defines subalternity. Even when it operates in terms of class, age and gender, it is more psychological than physical. The lack and deprivation, loneliness and alienation, subjugation and subordination, the resignation and silence, the resilience and neglect mark the lives of subaltern, even when they resist and rise up, they feel bounded and defeated by their subject positions. They have no representatives or spokesperson in the society they live in and so helplessly suffer and get marginal place or no place at all in the history and culture of which they are the essential part as human beings.

Adiga in his debut novel The White Tiger, which begged him Man Booker Prize 2008, created two different Indias in one: “an India of Light and an India of Darkness”. It is the India of Darkness which is focused by the novelist articulating the voice of silent majority, trying to dismantle the discrimination between the “Big Bellies and the Small Bellies” and create a society based on the principles of equality and justice. Balram Halwai, the protagonist is a typical voice of underclass metaphorically described as “Rooster coop” and struggling to set free from age-old slavery and exploitation. His anger, protest, indulgence in criminal acts, prostitution, drinking, chasing, grabbing all the opportunities, means air or foul endorse deep-rooted frustration and its reaction against the “haves”. Bloody acts, opportunism, entrepreneurial success of Balram, emergence of Socialists in India alarm that the voice of the underclass cannot be ignored for long. Ways of its subjection and articulation and reaction against it. The underclass is the result of our polity, bureaucratic set-up, poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, caste and culture conflict, superstitions, social taboos, dowry practice, economic disparity, Zamindari system, corrupt education system, poor Health services, police and judicial working. These forces collectively operate to perpetuate the underclass .This underclass constitutes Dark India.

The novel is structured as a series of letters written to the Chinese Premier by a former car driver from Laxamangarh, Bihar. Why the Chinese Premier? “Because” the narrator Balram Halwai, based in the city of Bangalore acknowledges, “the future of the world lies with the yellow man and the brown man now that our erstwhile master, the White skinned man has wasted himself through buggery, mobile phone usage and drug abuse”. India of Light with access to education, health care, transportation facilities, electricity, running water, hope, justice emerging entrepreneurial power in the world surpassing China; India’s rapid advancement in the field of science and technology, space, real estate, yoga and meditation, hotel and tourism industry, expansion of cities and mall culture, Delhi is adulated as Young America in India; the voice of the underclass is strongly articulated and attempts to give them proper recognition in the society.

Entrepreneurial success is the hallmark of India

Entrepreneurial success is the hallmark of India: “You Chinese are far ahead of us in every respect, except that you don’t have entrepreneurs….Thousands and thousands of them. Especially in the field of technology. And these entrepreneurs–we entrepreneurs have set up all these outsourcing companies that virtually run America now”. The visit of the Chinese Premier to Bangalore verifies China’s interest in India’s advancement in this area. The narrator explains the reasons for entrepreneurial success: “My country is the kind where it pays to play it both ways: the Indian entrepreneur has to be strait and crooked, mocking and believing, sly and sincere, at the same time”. The secrets of success in a modern globalized world has summed up in the last section of the novel.The secrets of success in a modern globalized world has summed up in the last section of the novel. Murder, manipulation, malpractices, opportunism, bribery, absconding police mirror to us.

The novel gives the detailed accounts of the Indian society

The novel gives the detailed accounts of the Indian society—rural as well as urban and its various facets. Laxamangarh, Gaya, Dhanbad, Delhi and Bangalore are generic, represent the portrait of India. Poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, caste and culture conflict, superstition, dowry practice, economic disparity, Zamindari system, and exploitation of marginal farmers and landless laborers, rise of Naxalism, corrupt education system, poor health services, tax evading racket, embittered master-servant relationship, prostitution, weakening family structure, entrepreneurial success and its fallout etc.Zamindari system and exploitation of marginal farmers and landless labourers, rise of Naxalism, corrupt education system, poor health services, tax evading racket, embittered master-servant relationship, prostitution, weakening family structure, entrepreneurial success and its fallout etc. constitute the basic structure of Indian society which largely forms the Dark image of India. Adiga who left Mangalore in 1991 when his father moved to Australia. After 15 years, returning to the city as a journalist with Time, he found it has changed vastly. The population of the city doubled, shopping malls and high-rise apartment buildings has reshaped the skyline. There were new five medical colleges, four dental colleges, fourteen physiotherapy colleges and three hundred fifty schools, colleges and polytechnics. The new affluence seemed to have come at a price. Looking around the transformed city, he also noticed a group of drifters and homeless men—the part of underclass who seemed to have been left out of the story of India’s growth.

It is poverty which compels Balram

It is poverty which compels Balram—The White Tiger to leave the school and work in a tea stall washing utensils and doing every kind of menial jobs. In the poverty-stricken society young kids are given no formal names –simply “Munna: It just means boy”; neither the mother nor the father is concerned about the name, Balram reports: “mother’s very ill…she lies in bed and spews blood. She’s got no time to name [and father] is a rickshaw puller…he’s got no time to name me”

Zamindari practice is also a powerful source of exploitation and subjugation of underclass. Buffalo, Stork, Wild Boar and Raven are four landlords who got their names from the peculiarities of appetite that had been detected in them. Stork owned the river that flowed outside the village, and he took “a cut of every catch of fish caught by every fisherman in the river, and a toll from every boatman who crossed the river” to reach Laxamangarh. Wild Boar, his brother owned all the good agricultural land around Laxamangarh. Men who wanted to work on those lands “had to bow down to his feet, and touch the dust under his slippers, and agree to swallow his day wages”. The Raven owned the worst land, which was dry, rocky hillside around the fort, and “took a cut from the goatherds who went up there to graze with their flocks. If they didn’t have their money, he liked to dip his beak into their backsides”. The bloody fighting between the Naxal outfits and the landlords, having their own private armies, hits the common man the most. They go around shooting and torture people suspected of sympathizing with the other.

The world of Darkness abounds with social taboos

The world of Darkness abounds with social taboos, rigid caste distinction, superstitions, and caste and culture conflict. Man is known and recognized by his caste. The old driver of Stork asked Bakram: “What caste are you?”. Similar question is asked by Stork:  “Halwai….What caste is that, top or bottom?”Ram Persad, the servant of Stork disguised his identity because the prejudiced landlord didn’t like Muslim—he claimed to be a Hindu just to get a job and feed his starving family. On disclosure he was sacked from the job. While playing cricket, Roshan, the grandson of Stork calls himself Azaruddin, the Captain of India. Stork reacts quickly, “call you Gavasker.

                           The practice of dowry is another social stigma in Laxamangarh. The marriage of Balram’s cousin-sister Reena pushedthe whole family into world of misery and Balram is dropped from the school. Kishan’s marriage also brings huge dowry, Balramreports: “It was one of the good marriages. We had the boy and we screwed the girl’s family hard. I remember exactly what we got in dowry…five thousand rupees in cash, all crisp new unsoiled notes fresh from the bank, plus a Hero bicycle, plus a thick gold necklace for Kishan”.The life of underclass darkens when corrupt and defunct education system operates in the society. In Laxamangarh, there is a typical school teacher called, “big Paan—and spit Man”, goes to sleep by noon, and drinks toddy in the school. Supply of free food to the school goes to the teacher who gives legitimate excuse for it–“he hadn’t been paid his salary in six months”. Truck full of uniform that government had sent to school is not issued to the children, “but a week later they turned up for sale in the neighboring village”. The whole education system is governed by the “crowd of thugs and idiots”, which Adiga calls “Jungle.”Poor health services and non-implementation of government policies expose the rampant malpractices which collectively enhance the miseries of the poor. In Laxamangarh, there were three different foundation stones for a hospital, laid by three different politicians before three different elections. Balram’s father died due to the lack of hospital and medical facilities. Medical services are shown as an object of political mockery and social stigma.

Conclusion

Adiga has graphically portrayed the different images of India—India of Light and India of Dark. But his focus is on the latter and he tries to give it a literary voice. Adiga in conversation with HirshSawhney explained the nature of progress: “technology is one aspect of progress; it is not progress in itself. Progress is holistic—its water and cell phones” (brooklynsail.org). Deirdre Donahue considers the novel one of the most powerful books she has read in decades with, “No hyperbole…an amazing and angry novel about injustice and power” (complete-review.com). Lee Thomas has reviewed the novel in San Francisco Chronicle (April 27, 2008): “Adiga’s first novel TheWhiteTiger, delivers an indomitable central character and an India bristling with economic possibility, competing loyalties and class struggle” (sfgate.com). Sudheer Apte finds the most enjoyable part of the novel, “is richly observed world of have-nots in India…with his keen observation and sharp writing Adiga takes us into Balram Halwai’s mind, whether we want or not” (mostlyfiction.com). In an interview he was asked how he got the inspiration for Balram Halwaiand how he captured his voice? He replied:

Balram Halwai is a composite of various men I’ve met when traveling through India. I spend a lot of my time loitering about train stations, or bus stands, or servants’ quarters and slums, and I listen and talk to the people around me. There is a kind of continuous murmur or growl beneath middleclass life in India, and this noise never gets recorded, Balram is what you’d hear if one day the drain and faucets in your house started talking (Interview with the author.htm).

Adiga has successfully highlighted the subaltern issue in the novel and brought home the idea that in the story of India’s progress role of the underclass is important. He, as a communist manifesto, pleads strongly for the classless society.

Mass communication and Media studies

Name -            Bhatt Dhara J

Roll No:  -        2

M.A.Part-2 -   Sem-4

Paper -             02, Ec-404

Paper Name - Mass communication and Media studies

Topic for Assignment    - Journalism

Submitted To: Dr.Dilipsir Barad

  Department of English,

  Bhavnagar University,

  Bhavnagar.                 

Journalism

           Introduction

             Journalism as a craft, a profession and even as a culture industry and a business is over three centuries old. It was possible by the coming together of a number of technologies as well as of several social, political and economic developments. The main technologies that facilitated the development of large press, the telegraph and railways. The industrial revolution and the growth of capitalism, democracy and the public sphere provided the impetus and the support for rapid developments in the press.  

         As a crafts Journalism involves specialization in one area (editor, design, printing, photojournalism, or marketing); for the reporters and sub-editors for instance, it entails writing to a deadline, following routines in a conveyor belt like workplace, while respecting the division of labour in the new room and the whole production process. In earlier times, a knowledge of typewriting, and shorthand were the skills required of journalists; today, computing and internet skills as well as DTP (Desk Top Publishing)and multimedia and multi-tasking skills are in demand for all areas of Journalism Also, the division among the different specialistsations have became blurred.

           Radio and television journalists need to familiarize themselves with the special demands of audiovisuals media (writing news for radio and television, stand up reporting, anchoring, camera work, Editing etc)and Online journalists need to hone their skills in the writing for digital media.
               As a culture industry and business, Journalism involves publishing as regular basis for profit, with news considered as the perform its real unless there is basically the freedom of expression. The constitution of India has rightly granted the citizens of India the right to freedom containing seven categories of freedoms including the freedom of speech and expression. It is because of this freedom of speech and expression. It is because of this freedom that the press in India has become very powerful and called the “Forth Estate”.

    What is journalism?

     Who then is a ‘Journalist’? And what is ‘Journalism’?

          The words ‘Journalist’, Journal’ and ‘Journalism’ are derived from the French ‘Journal’ which in its turn comes from the Latin word ‘diurnal is’ or ‘daily’.

         The Acta Diurnal, a handwritten bulletin put up daily in forum, the main public square in ancient Rome, was perhaps the world’s first newspaper. In later periods of history,pamphlets,Tracts,reviews,periodicals,gazetts,newbooks,corantos,news sheets and letters came to termed ‘newspapers’. Those who wrote for them were first called, news writers’ or essayists and later ‘journalists’.

          It was only in the sixteenth century , that the morning news papers started taking root in Europe trading houses Europe were the first to publish the new-books and then news books included political and economic news of general interest. In 1560 A.D, even serial numbered news sheets hit some towns of Switzerland and Germany. By 1618, weekly newspapers in English German, French and Dutch languages began coming out.  

          In U.K “Cora to” a news sheet consisting of a signal page started its publication in 1621 A.D.However, It was only by 1660 A.D that weekly publication of news sheets came to be established in U.K.The “oxford Gazette” which appeared in 1660 A.D was later renamed as “London Gazette”

          Journalism has become a long way since then. Today, a journalists is anyone who contributes in some way to the gathering, selection, and processing of news and current affairs for the press, radio, films, television, Cable, the Internet, blogs, the mobile, the PDA and IPod: and Journalism is the profession to which belong. Thus, editors, correspondents, assistant, editors, reporters, sub-editors, proof-readers, cartoonists; so are, camera crew, audio, and video editors, news readers, producers, directors and managing editors. ‘Stringers are part-time journalists. While ‘Free-lance’ journalists are those who are occasional contribution to newspapers.

           Here is how the working journalist Act (1955) defines a ‘Working Journalist’:

           ‘Working Journalist’ means a person whose principle avocation is that of a journalist and (who is employed as such either whole-time or part-time in, or in relation to, one or more newspaper establishment and includes as editor, a leader writer, news-editors, sub-editor, feature-writer, copy tester, reporter, correspondent, news-photographer and proof-reader, but does not include any such person who:

A)     Is employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity or,

B)     Being employed in a supervisory capacity, perform either by the nature of duties attached to his office or by reasons of the power vested in him, and function mainly or managerial nature.

           Types of Journalism

                           Journalism

                         1) Tabloid

                                    2) Yellow

           Journalists work for the ‘broadsheet’ (or ‘quality’ or ‘serious’) press and the ‘tabloid’ (or ‘popular’ or ‘sensation’) press. The terms ‘broadsheets’ and ‘tabloid’(or ‘compact’) usually describe the two main formats of newspapers, but the labels also connote two kinds of news stories selected, and more importantly, the presentation, treatment and style as well. However, this distinction is now blurred, especially when serious or quality papers (such as The Times of India, the Indian Express and The Asian Age ) choose to highlight the private lives of public figure and the tabloids (such as Middy, the Afternoon Dispatch and courier, and Today) to publish serious investigate stories of corruption in high places. A third formats is termed the ‘Berliner’ which is popular with European and some North American (The Journal and Courier) daily newspapers.  

  

                         ‘Tabloid Journalism’ is frequently termed ‘Yellow Journalism’ primary because of its tendency to sensationalize and trivialize events, issues and people. The staple of the ‘tabloids’ is the private lives of famous people, crime, accidents, disasters, public corruption, sex, etc. Tabloid Journalists are believed to indulge in ‘Chequebook Journalism’ which implies that the subjects of the news stories are bribed to sell their ‘true confessions’. Such Journalisists are also believed to indulge in ‘Keyhole journalism’ or ‘sting journalism’ in their attempts to probe the private sexual infidelities and peccadilloes of well-known people and public officials. There is ‘page 3’ Journalism which focuses on the social lives of celebrities and films stars and sports heroes. These journalistic of the privacy raise several ethics questions about the invasion of the privacy of individuals and the public’s right to information.  

                         ‘Tabloid television’ follows the pattern of selection, treatment and style of the tabloid press.

                          In the pre-satellites television era (1980s) the video newsmagazines ‘news track’ and ‘Eyewitness’ were in the tabloid tradition. In recent years, India T.V, Janmat (now live India) and the crime-based programmers on several television news channels verge on the sensation and tabloid.

           The Role of the press

·      Communication of news and Events

                   The primary duty of the press is to feed the people with local, national, and international news and events. A newspaper contains a wealth of information. It deals with every people of life-political, economic, social, scientific, developmental, and religious, culture etc.There is no doubt that reading a newspaper involves grater mental exercise than listening to a news bulletin over the radio or watching the news programmed on T.V.

·      Phenomenal growth in Daily Newspapers

           The increase in the literacy ratio in developing countries not only of the number of newspapers but also of their circulation. The circulation of Daily newspaper per 1,000 in habitants was the highest in Japan (569).

·          Role of newspapers as an Industry

                 Publication of newspapers has become an    industry. Newspapers are not of a uniform size. Circulation various from newspaper to newspapers while a small newspaper can manage with only handful of employees, big newspapers have to employ hundreds of person to public lakhas of copies for circulation

·      Timely publication of news

                  But weather the size of a newspaper, every newspaper is printed by type and ink on newsprint. Newspaper influence and mould the mind of the people. Every page of newspaper is testimony of arouse work put in behind the scene by journalists of newspaper cannot be produced without the willing, cooperation, dedication, commitment, and team spirit of the journalists.

             The work of producing a newspaper is a time bound one because a newspaper has to be printed on time to reach the subscribe and the news stands at a fixed time.

·      Creative work

          The work of production of a newspaper has its own charm. History is being made every moment. Every moment unfolds a fresh development, a strange phenomenon, a heroic deed, an unprecedented, tragedy, a new hope, thrilling experience a mystic relation and so on and so forth. Reporters drive a great sense of satisfaction from the fact of being a part of this great process going on unabated.

·      Advertisement for goods and service

       In the modern age, newspapers are no longer confined to communication of news only. Newspapers provide space for advertisement of all sorts- Matrimonial advertisements, advertisement for filling up vacancies of various posts and services, purchase and sale of properties, educational opportunities for betterment of career etc.

·      Weather Bulletins and other vital Information

               Newspapers publish vital information for the benefit of the people. Almost every newspaper gives daily weather bulletin, and details of movies, public meeting and engagements, radio, and T.V programmed, and News also educate and as well entertain the readers by publishing articles, interview, features.

Guardians of the right of the people

          The newspapers are the guardians of the rights of the people. Weather these right are infringed, newspapers take up budgets on behalf of and economic evils prevalent in the society and motivate people to eradicate these evils. The famous Watergate Scandal was unearthed by two young reporters- Bob Woodward and Carl Berbstein of “Washington Post”

           Conclusion

                  Describing to the role of the press. Mahatma Gandhi once Said:

 “The sole aim of journalism should be service. The press is great power, but as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countryside and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serve but to destroy.”

             We can thus deduce that in the ultimate analysis, the main responsibility of the press is to serve the people, to inform, educate entertain and motivate them to become better and conscientious citizens.

          

    

      

                

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

Name -            Bhatt Dhara J

Roll no:  -        2

M.A.Part-2 -   Sem-4

Paper -             02, Ec-402

Paper name - English teaching

Language- 2

Topic for Assignment    - Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

Submitted To: Dr.Dilipsir Barad

  Department of English,

  Bhavnagar university,

  Bhavnagar.                 

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

                  

v Introduction

          In the second half of the 20th century, education technologies were one of the most developed areas in the world. Computers, which have entered the school life in the late 1950s in developed countries, are still developing day by day throughout the world. Today, they have become more powerful, faster, easier to use, more convenient and cheaper, and they can process and store much more data, as well. Equipment such as hard disks, CD­ROMs, laser disks and printers used with computers has also developed rapidly. Using these, a computer program can handle sound, pictures and video along with characters.

          At the end of the 20th century; the computer-mediated' communication and the Internet have reshaped the use of computers for language learning. Computers are no longer a tool for only information processing and display but also a tool for information processing and communication. Learners of language, with the help of the Internet, can now simultaneously communicate with others or speakers of the target language all over the world. Nonetheless, As Dhaif (1989) claims computers can never replace the 'live' teacher, especially in language teaching, where the emphasis is on mutual communication between people. It can just play a role in teaching the second or foreign language as an aid to the teacher.

          Today, there is huge amount of foreign language materials next to the traditional grammar book and dictionary. These materials include-course books, workbooks, programmed courses, cue carts, charts, newspapers, posters, picture cards, and cut outs, and so on. These are supplemented by other media, such as radio, television, slides, OHP, video tapes, games, toys, realia, as well as computers, multi media and the Internet.

          The language laboratories which were found in the 1970s under the influence of the Audio-lingual Method have given room to computer assisted language learning (CALL) work stations. "Micro computers used as word processors complement the audio facilities, enabling the interactive teaching of all four language skills reading, listening, speaking and writing". (Crystal, 1987: 377). Crystal further adds that today a great variety of FLT exercises, such as sentence restructuring, checking of spelling, checking of translations, or dictation tasks, and cloze tests can be computationally controlled" using texts displayed on the screen.

          Recent years have shown a boom of interest in using computers for foreign language teaching and learning. A decade ago, the use of computers in the language classroom was of concern only to a small number of specialists in western countries. However, with the advent of multimedia computing and the Internet, the role of computers in language instruction has now become an important issue confronting large numbers of language teachers throughout the world.

          To be realistic, although most teachers throughout the world still use chalk and blackboard, CALL is used routinely in language instruction in highly developed countries, such as the USA, Japan, and Western European countries including Turkey to provide supplementary practice in the four skills writing, reading, speaking and listening, as well as grammar and problem solving. Though, as Chappell points, "instructors need to understand how CALL can best be used to offer effective instruction to language learners" (1990: 199).

v The Computer

          Computer is a device that processes information with great speed and accuracy. Computers process information by helping to create the information itself, by displaying, storing, recognizing, and communicating information to other computers. In general they process numbers, words, still or moving pictures, and sounds.

          The computer has changed the way people work, learn, communicate, and play. It is used by students, teachers, and research scientists as a learning tool all over the world, as well as by individuals at home to study, work and entertain.

          In Encarta Encyclopedia (2000) it is recorded that the first electronic digital computer was developed by the Hungarian-American mathematician John von Neumann to solve problems in mathematics, meteorology, economics, and hydrodynamics. Then, the American physicist John Mauchly proposed the electronic digital computer called ENIAC and build it with the American engineer J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. ENIAC which is completed in 1945 is regarded as the first successful, general digital computer. However, it weighed more than 27,000 kg and contained more than 18,000 vacuum tubes. The computer's vacuum tubes were replaced by a team of six technicians each month and it had to be reprogrammed for each task. ENIAC initially was used for military purposes. Fortunately, the technology of computer hardware, the physical parts of computer systems, has advanced tremendously since then. Today a single microprocessor of approximately 2 kg can do the same work as that pioneering machine (Snyder: 2000, in Encarta Encyclopedia).

         On the other hand, the programs that run the computer are called Software. Software, is the set of instructions a computer uses to manipulate data, such as a word­ processing, (e.g., to write a letter), program or a video game. These programs are usually stored and transferred via the computer's hardware to and from the CPU. The interaction between the input and output hardware is controlled by software called the Basic Input Output System software (BIOS). Software programs are loaded on either disks or CD­ROMs (compact discs). There is a big variety of readymade language learning software in the market today. Some of these are WIDA; Oxford advanced Leaner's Dictionary on CD­ROM, Learn to Speak English, Encarta Encyclopedia and many more.

ð What is the Role of the Computer in Teaching?

          The computer is a human made tool which is incapable of action. That is, it has no inborn wisdom, no initiative and inherent ability to learn or to teach. It will perform, with remarkable speed, the instructions exactly given to it by a human user. Thus, the computer is 'the servant of the user' and it should not be forgotten that its role in teaching is solely a teaching aid. Consequently, it is dependent on the teacher in many ways: for example, it is unable to create educational materials without the teacher. All the linguistic material and instructions for its presentation must be specified by the teacher. It is the teacher who decides what degree of control the computer will have in her/his classes. Hence, as Brierley & Kemble (1991) state there is no need for teachers to feel threatened to lose their professions to the computer.

          The computer can be situated. in the classroom, in a special laboratory (CALL, laboratory), in a specially designed area of a library or in any convenient location where the student, or small groups of students can work uninterruptedly (Ahmed, Corbett, Rogers & Sussex: 1985). It can be used as the mainstay of a course, or back up, revision, reinforcement, extension, and so on. It may communicate with the student visually by displaying text, graphics or video images on a screen; it can also present sound in the form of speech, music or other audio-output. The most common means of communication with the computer is by clicking on icons with the mouse or by typing commands and responses at a keyboard (Higgins: 1995). As a result, unique combinations of interactive and visual capabilities, computers have a beneficial effect on learner motivation.

v Computer Assisted and Language Learning (CALL)

          The abbreviation CALL stands for Computer Assisted Language Learning. It is a term used by teachers and students to describe the use of computers as part of a language course. (Hardisty & Windeatt: 1989). It is traditionally described as a means of 'presenting, reinforcing and testing' particular language items. The learner is first presented with a rule and some examples, and then answers a series of questions which test her/his knowledge of the rule and the computer gives appropriate feedback and awards a mark, which may be stored for later inspection for the teacher. Jones & Fortescue (1987) indicate that the traditional description of CALL is unfortunate and they present the computer as flexible classroom aid, which can be used by teachers and learners, in and out of class, in a variety of ways and for a variety of purposes. However, work with the computer, as any other teaching aid, needs to be linked with ordinary classroom work and CALL lessons, like the other lessons, need to be planned carefully.

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v The History of CALL

          Although computers have been used since the first half of the 20th century, they were not used for educational purposes until the 1960s. The 1970s witnessed the evolution of CALL as a result of development in research related to the use of computers for linguistic purposes and for creating suitable language learning conditions. In America the computer based introductory courses in the 1960s were pioneering projects in CALL, and were referred to as computer Assisted Instruction (CAl) The 1980s have witnessed the spread of computers both in educational institutions and in people's homes. Since the beginning of the '80s computers have also found their way into many schools. CALL software has also become more readily available on the market (Ittelson: 2000).

          The emergence of inexpensive computer technology and mass storage media, including optical videodiscs and compact disks, has given instructional technologists better tools to work with. Compact disks are used to store large amounts of data, such as encyclopedias or motion pictures. In CALL centers with computers and software such as CD-ROM, CD-I, or videodiscs, a student who is interested in a particular topic can first scan an electronic encyclopedia, then view a film on the subject or look at related topics at the reach of a button. Thus, such learning centers present students with the advantages of reference materials and popularize computer-aided instruction. The computer laboratory has become an integral component of foreign-language programs in most educational institutions (Hardisty & Windeatt: 1989).

          Computers have been used for language teaching for more than three decades. According to Warschauer & Healey (1998) the history of CALL can be divided into three stages: behaviouristic CALL, communicative CALL and integrative CALL.

          Each stage corresponds to a certain pedagogical approach.

ð Behaviouristic CALL

          It was formed in the late 1960s and used widely in the 1970s under the influence of Audio-lingual teaching method. In this stage of CALL, repetitive language drills, referred to as drill-and practice were used. The computer was seen as a mechanical tutor who never allowed students to work at an individual pace, which hindered motivation. Further, it included extensive drills, grammatical explanations and translation at various intervals (Warschauer & Healey 1998).

ð Communicative CALL

          It was the period of the 1980s. This period was the time that behaviouristic approach to language teaching was being rejected at both theoretical and pedagogical level, and also personal computers were creating greater possibilities for individual work at school. Communicative CALL corresponded to cognitive theories which stressed that learning was a process of discovery, expression and development. Under the influence of Communicative Language Teaching defendants of communicative CALL argued that computer based activities should focus more on using forms. Software developed in this period included text reconstruction program and simulations. In communicative CALL, the focus was not so much on what students did with the computer, but rather what they did with each other while working at the computer.

ð Interactive CALL

          By the 1990s communicative CALL began to be criticized. New second language acquisition theories and socio-cognitive views influenced many teachers and lead them to use more social and learner-centered methods. This time, emphasis was put on language use in authentic social contexts. Task-based, project-based and content-based approaches all sought to integrate learners in authentic environments, and also to integrate the various skills of language learning and use. In integrative approaches, students are enabled to use a variety of technological tools as an ongoing process of language learning and use rather than visiting the computer lab once a week basis for isolated exercises.

v Fluency and accuracy practice

          One of the characteristics of many CALL programs is that the students have to pronounce or type in exactly the answer the computer expects because the computer can only accept the answers it has been programmed to accept. This limitation is very useful in practice because it provides motivation for the students to use the language as accurately as possible.

v Computer-work, pre-computer work and post-computer work

There are three stages in CALL activities:

a)       Pre-computer work before students make use of the machines;

b)      Work done at the computer;

c )      Post-computer work done away from the computer (Hardisty and Windeatt: 1989).

v CALL AND LANGUAGE SKILLS

          Computers offer learners various activities for developing different language skills. They can provide a useful and motivating medium for both integrated skills and separate activities. Warschauer & Healey (1998) describe them as follows:

ð Reading Skills

          There are three main ways in which computers are useful in helping language learners develop reading skills.

a)       Incidental reading. Most of the CALL programs, whether oriented towards reading or not, involve the learner in reading text for the successful completion of the activity.

b)      Reading comprehension. Traditional question and answer CALL programs are used for reading comprehension as well as grammar and vocabulary development.

c)       Text manipulation. There are a number of ways in which computers can manipulate continuous text which involve the learner in close study of the content and structure of the text. An example might be shadow reading which provides students with authentic texts. Additionally, sentence structure, speed reading and cloze-reading are some of the alternative ways of developing reading skills. An example for software matching activity might be the JMS Newline activity: 'Match the slang words with their definitions'. Another activity might be JMS Newline Software: Speed Practice Reading Comprehension activity (Sperling, 1998).

ð Writing Skills

          The Word Processing program is one of the most common purposes for which computers are used and it is regarded as the most powerful to use when starting to work with CALL. In order to use word processors learners have to be familiar to the keyboard of the computer and they also have to learn the following before using the computer:

·        Learn how to start a word processor

·        Learn how to delete and insert a letter, a word or a larger chunk of text

·        Learn how to save text

·        Print a text

·        Moving words, lines, sentences, etc. around.

          Word-processing programs transform the computer into a sophisticated and flexible writing aid that can improve learners' writing skills and their attitude toward writing. The main principle of word-processing programs is based on the ability to manipulate text freely. By writing text into the memory of a computer, the writer can play round with his text until entirely satisfied. The word-processor provides useful practice for guided and free writing.

          Vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and reading tests have an obvious relevance to the sub-skills that are needed for writing (Duber: 2000). By providing something to write about, the computer stimulates both writing and speaking. An example might be the following activity from the Redhouse Dictionary CD-ROM: 'Put the jumbled idioms in order and write them in your notebook'.

ð Speaking Skills

          Oral communication is very important in language learning process. In today's language "classrooms, considerable emphasis is given to oral activities in which learners use the language they have learned to communicate with each other. These activities include simulations, role-plays and discussion. Computer simulations provide a stimulus for such a work, as they offer both a focus for oral activity and a continually changing scenario for learners to talk about. Computers have a useful contribution to the development of oral skills if they are used wisely (Hammersmith: 1998).

          Dialogue studies can be made by the computers with the aid of the movies; students watching these dialogues can see the conversation, setting and cultural atmosphere clearly. They can also see the body movements and the semiotic background of the conversations and earn a powerful experience and thus improve their communicative competence. These all pave the way to their communicative performances through reinforcing their accuracy, intelligibility and fluency.

          The main advantage of computer simulations is that they are very motivating. They give learners instant feedback on the effects of their decisions, and this feedback itself stimulates arguments and comments, suggestions and counter suggestions. An activity for improving listening and speaking skills might be a listening activity from 'Learn to Speak English Software I': Spoken English Demo: Communication Skills.

                                                                                

ð Listening Skills

        Listening activities that use the computer are more complex than the other kinds of  CALL materials since they involve equipment other than the computer itself. One of the simplest ways of giving practice in listening comprehension is to use a multiple-choice or fill-in program in conjunction with a cassette recorder or the latest multimedia containing a recorder. In addition to the normal feedback given after a wrong answer, the computer can let the learner hear the relevant part of the tape again. If a separate cassette recorder is used, the error message can give the learner appropriate counter numbers. Another simple technique is to use a tape with a test-reconstruction program which enables learners to reconstruct a summary of a recorded anecdote on screen by the help of the tape.

          Such activities not only help to integrate listening and writing skills but also evaluate learners' listening comprehension skills in a more active way than is generally possible in a non-CALL class (Jones & Fortescue: 1987). An activity for improving listening skills might be a listening activity from 'JMS Newline Software', The Listening Leaner: Listening Comprehension, Spoken English.

v Conclusion

The role of computer in language teaching has changed signified in the last three decades previously; computers used in language teaching were limited to text. The computer is a mechanical device which can be used well or badly. The use of computers is compatible with a variety of approaches, methods and techniques of learning and teaching.