Language I: Comprehension, Language Acquisition and Pedagogy of Teaching
Language I is the candidate's first language (for example Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit or English) and carries 30 marks in three loose blocks: comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, and pedagogy of language teaching.
Comprehension
Items test literal recall, inference, evaluation and vocabulary in context. Skimming gives the gist, scanning gives the detail; reference words (anaphora) and fact-versus-opinion items reward close reading rather than outside knowledge.
Acquisition theory
Behaviourist (Skinner: imitation and reinforcement), nativist (Chomsky: language acquisition device, universal grammar), interactionist (Vygotsky, Bruner). Krashen distinguishes acquisition from learning, and adds comprehensible input at i+1 and the affective filter. Cummins separates BICS (conversational fluency) from CALP (academic language).
Pedagogy
LSRW with listening and speaking as the foundation; NCF 2005 treats multilingualism and the home language as a resource rather than a deficit and endorses the three-language formula. Methods to recognise: grammar-translation, direct method, structural-situational, communicative language teaching, task-based learning, whole language and phonics. Teach grammar inductively from use; teach writing as a process (plan–draft–revise–edit); use language across the curriculum; do error analysis before remedial teaching.
Worked example
A child writes "I goed to the market." This is an error, not a mistake: the child has over-generalised the regular past-tense rule to an irregular verb. It shows active rule construction, so the teacher models "went" in meaningful contrast and recycles it - she does not deduct marks for carelessness or drill isolated verb lists.
Traps
Marking developmental errors as carelessness; explaining grammar only deductively; setting comprehension questions answerable by copying one line; neglecting oral skills; confusing teaching language with teaching literature.