Language II (English): Structure, Skills and Classroom Method
Language II in OTET Paper 2 is English, worth 30 marks, split between comprehension and grammar/vocabulary on one side and pedagogy of English on the other. Items are set for Odia-medium classrooms, so expect questions on how English is taught as a second language.
Grammar and usage tested
Tenses and sequence of tenses; active–passive; direct–indirect speech; articles; prepositions; subject–verb agreement; degrees of comparison; noun, adjective and adverb clauses; conditionals; question tags; phrasal verbs and idioms; synonyms and antonyms in context.
Pedagogy
- Grammar-translation relies on L1 and rules; the structural approach drills graded sentence patterns orally; communicative language teaching (CLT) uses information-gap tasks and puts fluency before accuracy. CLT does not forbid grammar teaching - it teaches form in use.
- Reading: skimming (gist), scanning (specific detail), intensive (close study), extensive (pleasure/volume).
- Error analysis distinguishes L1 interference from overgeneralisation ("goed", "she don't"). Remedial teaching targets the pattern of error, not single mistakes.
- Evaluation: discrete-item tests (MCQ on articles) versus integrative tests (cloze, composition); diagnostic, formative and summative purposes.
Worked example
Direct: She said, "I am going to Cuttack tomorrow." Reported: She said that she was going to Cuttack the next day. Reasoning: reporting verb in past → present continuous shifts to past continuous; first-person pronoun changes to third person; "tomorrow" becomes "the next day". A universal truth would not backshift: He said that the sun rises in the east.
Traps
- Keeping "said to" without an object; it must become told + object.
- Backshifting timeless truths.
- Confusing skimming with scanning in pedagogy items.
- Claiming CLT eliminates explicit grammar instruction.