Language I (first language opted by the candidate)
Language I is the candidate’s first language - commonly Marathi in Maharashtra - and carries 30 questions. The paper tests unseen comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, plus the pedagogy of teaching that language as a mother tongue.
What is tested
- Comprehension: main idea, inference, vocabulary in context, sequence, author’s purpose.
- Grammar: sandhi, samas, parts of speech, tense, agreement, sentence types, muhavare and alankar in Marathi.
- Pedagogy: LSRW order, oral language before writing, whole-language and phonics approaches, error analysis, multilingualism as a resource, assessment for learning.
Core principles
Mother-tongue learning starts from the child’s spoken language. Errors such as overgeneralising a rule show active rule-making, not laziness. A teacher should recast the correct form in a meaningful context rather than only marking it wrong. Comprehension questions should go beyond literal recall to inference and evaluation. Grammar is best taught in use, then named.
Worked example
A girl writes, “मी शाळेत गेलो.” The teacher says, “हो, मी शाळेत गेली.” Reason: the child has applied the masculine default form; the goal is gender agreement with the speaker. Marking it as “careless” misses the developmental rule. The recast models “गेली” without stopping the message. A follow-up sorting task with masculine and feminine subjects gives practice. The same logic applies to any Language I: identify the rule behind the error, then provide focused, meaningful input.
Traps
Do not assume a silent child has no language. Do not teach grammar only through definitions and tables. Do not treat dialect forms as “wrong” before comparing them with standard written forms. In comprehension, do not choose an option just because it repeats words from the passage; inference questions require evidence.