In the context of Anglo-Indian schools, this means the
Principals of Anglo-Indian schools and Anglo-Indian
teachers should be fluent bilinguals, if they are going to
provide the roles for effective Indian language acquisition
by Anglo-Indians. (53)
The studies suggest that there were negative statements
about bilingualism, that is, a smaller active and passive
vocabulary, a confused, mixed vocabulary, less complex
sentences and the misuse of idiomatic expression. The
overwhelming results of successful bilingual teaching and
learning should be considered by the Anglo-Indian schools.
Language is an important dimension of ethnic identity.
The new ethnicity of Anglo-Indians means an important
bilingual dimension of their ethnicity. (54) Bilingualism
offers the opportunity of Reversing the Language Shift
(RLS) . (55) Chapter nine offers a theory-practice for
Anglo-Indian schools in which Reversing the Language Shift
can be introduced into an Anglo-Indian school.
5. Conclusions
The chapter described what Anglo-Indians actually
experience while learning an Indian language in a
classroom. A significant proportion of the data collected
during the interviews focused on the subjective educational
experiences of Anglo-Indian and non Anglo-Indian adults and
students. Anglo-Indians were failing to learn Indian
languages in their own schools. The standard of English
language learning had also deteriorated for Anglo-Indians.
The chapter also described the low expectations the
teachers had for Anglo-Indian students. Some teachers
associated the difficulty in acquiring fluency in an Indian
language with a lack of intelligence. Anglo-Indian
282