As a teacher of English who has the experience of teaching English at the undergraduate and intermediate levels in the face-to-face conventional mode for more than a decade and also as an academic counsellor for the post graduate and undergraduate students who are undergoing programmes through distance learning at IGNOU, I feel it very difficult to cope with the distance learners despite their motivation levels for the simple reason that the time frame available for the distance learners for counselling sessions is most insignificant when compared to the conventional learners in the classroom.

I firmly believe that all the years the teacher cannot be there with the learners of language patting and encouraging them that they are on right paths of learning, yet I do feel that the amount of time for interaction between the counsellor and learner need to be increased so that the teacher can properly motivate them and show them the ways of auto learning and help the distance learners become autonomous learners in a true sense. In a way, in the Indian context there are certain islands of excellence where English is taught by more experienced and creative teachers and on the other hand there are rural areas where the competencies of the English teachers themselves are in question. In such set ups the teaching of English suffers to a great extent and when learners finsish their collegiate education from such rurual areas they are unable to withstand the pressures of the multinationals which insisit on good communication skills, in this case English. I feel that there is an urgent need to do something for this group of learners who lack basic communication skills for which they become unemployable. One such strategy is to launch a programme through distance mode to improve their communication skills.

I seek reactions from the teachers around the world to suggest what kind of curricula need to be desinged for such learners and how many hours of interaction is required. May be I have my own views which I will share in my next writings.

Dr.S.Fiayaz Ahmed

India