Indians beat English in their own knowledge at TOEFL:ETS

It's long been known that Indian students outperform their global counterparts in science and math. But here's a stunning finding: even students whose mother tongue is an Indian language fare better in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (Toefl) than those whose native language is English.

That's according to a recent analysis by Educational Testing Service, or ETS, which conducts Toefl. British students applying to American universities are required to take the test too.

True, Toefl is typically taken by middle-class and higher-income group students. Still, it shows Konkanis and Malayalis from around the world are much better at reading, speaking and writing English than native English speakers.

Linguist Peggy Mohan explained how Indians have improved at English by drawing a distinction between bilingualism and diglossia. While the former is merely a duplication of thoughts in two languages, the latter is about one language slowly gaining more power over the other. "An English-speaking Indian has native-like intuition in English, unlike a Chinese for whom English is assembled by a more academic thought process. For an Indian, English is more like an adjunct native language. We do some of our thinking in our Indian language and other things in English - that is, we have a native competence that spans two or more languages. No wonder we do so well in Toefl."

Toefl's internet-based test was launched in September 2005-06 and since then, while Gujaratis have bettered their average mean score from 78 to 84, most others have slid down the charts. Those speaking Hindi registered 96 then, Kannadigas had scored 97 and Maharashtrians bagged 97.

"Toefl provides accurate scores at the individual level; it is not appropriate for comparing countries," clarified Walt MacDonald, ETS executive vice-president and chief operating officer.

"The differences in the number of students taking the test in each country, how early English is introduced into the curriculum, how many hours per week are devoted to learning English, and the fact that those taking the test are not representative of all English speakers in each country or any defined population," Said MacDonald.

English is gaining currency in India's rural pockets and pedestrian schools, too. And picking up the grammar of what people want, some governments have been forced to introduce the Queen's lingo as the medium of instruction in public schools. "There is a huge amount of English in the country now. Everybody knows a fair amount of English. Also, Indians are intrinsically bright. When they apply themselves to a task, they do well at it," said Yasmeen Lukmani, former English HOD at the University of Mumbai.