Bridge Course Case Study

English is a language of opportunities and success for life in India. Present day academic institutions are involved in the task of preparing the students to face the international arena which is dominated by English. The objective of College English curriculum is to develop students’ ability to use English in all-round way, especially in Listening and Speaking. The Language teachers at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate level in Colleges and Universities realized that the students had difficulty in learning when they take their lessons in the medium of English. Most of the students had problems in learning English and hence the need for a course was felt among the teachers to facilitate communication in English in a better way. The concept
Bridge Course is implemented at the tertiary level Looking at the present state of ELT in South India, the first thing that strikes the observer is not much improvement has taken place in the last thirty five years as far as the Bridge Course is concerned. There are a vast number of Councils, Commissions and the like to monitor the work being done in Language teaching in the colleges at the state level. But few professionals are able to keep in touch with everything that is being done at the state level so that a concrete plan of action is obtained.
So many Educationists have been analysing on English Bridge Courses conducted in colleges for the first year students, but few of them explored the Bridge Course in English systematically. Prof. G. Balakrishnan, former vice principal, St. Joseph’s College, in a discussion with Heads of the Departments of English, M. Rema, Shrimati Indira Gandhi College, and A.M.Mohamed Ibrahim of Jamal Mohamed College, Tiruchi exchange their views on the Bridge Course.‘ Has it been helpful in transforming students belonging to rural parts, especially first-generation undergraduate students, from diffidence to