MENTORING ENGINEERING STUDENTS IN A MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOM

Abstract

In a multicultural classroom, where English is taught as a second language (L2) to a usual mixed-ability group of learners, the concept of mentor-mentee can be considered paramount. The picture remains ubiquitously the same in almost every technical institution regarding the use of the English language for various academic and professional purposes. Students from different cultural backgrounds are still in awe of this second language despite its universal appeal and importance. The study deals with this issue of petrified learners.

The technical institution where the researcher works comprises several engineering students from the northern part of the country, and for them, the first stint with the English language (who still consider it a subject) started in the 8^th standard only. They learned some basic sentence patterns and grammar activities in their 12^th standard, as these primarily form the major writing component in the board exams. However, this gradual practice of getting acquainted with the syntactic features of L2 does not always manifest communicatively in every student. Despite learning English since school, many of my students appear to be afraid to use English confidently amongst their peers and teachers. The mentor and mentee concept seems feasible in a multicultural language classroom and can be viewed as a positive step towards reinforcing language speaking skills because students very often feel shy and become conscious in the presence of their teachers; however, they feel comfortable and do not become image-conscious when it comes to speaking in English with their batch mate (mentor) outside the formal classroom atmosphere.