REPORT WRITING SAMPLE - SHORT & LONG REPORT

Short Formal Report

Loyola College

English Department

Chennai.

Report On The Possibility Of Opening A Short Course In English

Introduction

In a meeting of the department of English held on 20 NOV 2016, the view was expressed that our students have a very poor command in English, both spoken and written. So it was proposed that a short course in English should be opened under the management of the English teachers.

Discussion

We realized the need for such a course for good reasons. From the answer scripts of the students of different departments, we found that the standard of English of about 80% of them is far below the average. We interviewed many students of our university, of some other universities, and even some outsiders, and found that they deplorably lacked correctness in writing and fluency in speaking English. We also talked with them about opening a short course in English in order to help them with the basics of written and spoken English. They all highly appreciated the idea and opined that such a course would be of much help for them.

The students need to use correct English in their answers of the exam questions in different courses and subjects. If they are given some knowledge about the basics of spoken and written English, they can go a long way towards their improvement.

Conclusion

So we think that Short Courses in English will be a quite popular programme. It will help students, non-students, and professionals.

Recommendations

We would recommend that such a course should be opened in the Department of English, and the university should look into the financial aspects of the programme as early as possible.

ALBIN JOHN PRADEEP

Department of English

15 February, 2016

Long Formal Report

Letter of Transmittal

English Department

LOYOLA COLLEGE

CHENNAI 34

01 May 2016

The Vice Chancellor

MADRAS University

CHENNAI.

Dear Sir

The enclosed report Bad Pronunciation and Fluency in English of the college Students in Loyola is the product of the research we did about the problem. In a meeting of the university and college officials held on 05 April 2016, a commission headed by me was set up to carry on an investigation into the matter.

As it was thought that possibly the problem originated at the school level, so we have visited about 50 schools (primary and secondary) in different parts of the country, carried out an elaborate research into the matter, and produced this report.

I shall be happy to answer any questions you or your staff might have about or work.

Yours faithfully,

ALBIN JOHN

Head of English Department

Title Page

BAD PRONUNCIATION AND FLUENCY IN ENGLISH OF LOYOLA COLLEGE STUDENTS IN CHENNAI. Prepared By The Commission for Probing into the Problem of Bad Pronunciation and Fluency in English in English of the Loyola college Students in Chennai. 01 May 2016

Contents

Title Page ……………………….                                                                                           1

Contents………………………….                                                                                           2

Executive Summery…………….                                                                                       3

Introduction………………………….                                                                                      4

Body of the Report…………......                                                                                     5

Conclusions………………..                                                                                                6

Recommendations………………………….                                                                              7

Appendices………………………………….                                                                                8

Bibliography…………………………….                                                                                   9

BAD PRONUNCIATION AND FLUENCY IN ENGLISH

OF LOYOLA COLLEGE STUDENTS IN CHENNAI.

Executive Summery

The report was occasioned by the realization of the problem of the deplorable state of the pronunciation and fluency in English of the students of this college. A commission for probing into the problem was set up in a meeting of the high officials of this college held on 05 April 2016. The commission set out on the 7th of May to investigate the matter and carried out research with about fifty primary and secondary schools in both villages and towns. The research revealed the low level of knowledge, efficiency, and teaching methods of English teachers in those institutions. The commission realized that these were the basic reasons for the unreasonably low standard of pronunciation and fluency in English of the college students. It has made some recommendations to improve the situations.

Introduction

Pronunciation of English is in a state of disorder, misunderstanding, and neglect in Tamilnadu, India. Most of the teachers involved in all stages of our education system from the primary up to tertiary levels are neither aware of the importance of English pronunciation, nor do they have any knowledge about it or inclined to practise it in their teaching. The state of pronunciation is especially deplorable at the primary and secondary levels. And it is still far worse in the villages than in the towns.

At a high level meeting of the Loyola College held on 05 April 2016, the problem of the low level of the standard of pronunciation of Loyola College in Chennai was focused. After a thorough discussion the members came to realize that we should do something about it, and conjectured that the problem originated from the primary and secondary levels. The meeting chaired by the dean of students and HODS immediately set up a commission of five members headed by me to probe into the problem, and suggested solutions.

Accordingly, we, the members of the commission, set out on 07 May 2016 for the purpose. We visited about 50 schools (primary and secondary) in different parts of the country in remote villages and towns and found out the following facts.

Body of the Report

(1) Most of the teachers who teach English at the primary and secondary levels do not have any idea about the correct pronunciation of the Standard English language.

(2) They do not have the least idea about the phonetic symbols given in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, or any other English dictionary. They are only acquainted with Student's Favourite Dictionary, or Tamil Academy Dictionary, or Regional Dictionary. The most pitiful condition is that some of them do not even any dictionary, and still some others do not even know the names of dictionaries.

(3) What they do is teach their students in the translation method. It requires that students first know the Tamil word for a thing, and then the teacher tells them the English word for it.

(4) While uttering an English word, the teacher pronounces the word as he knows it, whether right or wrong. For example, they pronounce the word school as /isku:l, not as /sku:l, the correct one. They do not differentiate between the sounds of vowels and diphthongs. For example, they pronounce the word 'say' as /se/, not its correct form /seì/. In consonantal sound they substitute 'p' for the English 'f'. That means they substitute the bilabial for the labiodentals. They treat the different sounds /z/ and /dz/ as identical, so they would pronounce 'breeze' and 'bridge' in the same way, using /z/ in both words.

They do not have any idea about the differences in lengths of vowels. They pronounce /i: / and /ı/ in 'seat' and 'sit' in the same way. As regards stress and intonation they do not have the least idea. They speak English with a level stress as in Tamilnadu, India. They utter the word in syllables. In intonation, they have similar problems. They do not at all use rise and fall in their utterances of any sentences.

Conclusions 

From the above findings we can reach the following conclusions:

(1) Most of the teachers of primary and secondary levels do not have any idea about correct English pronunciation.

(2) Their students are also being taught with no idea of correct pronunciation. Even they do not know that there is something like correct and incorrect pronunciations.

(3) Once taught with the incorrect pronunciations, the students cannot change their pronunciation even when they grow up and enter the tertiary level of education.

(4) The teachers at primary and secondary levels are primarily responsible for the state of English pronunciation of the students at the College level. The matter of pronunciation is such that once fixed in the speech organs it is very difficult to change them later.

Recommendations

If we want to bring about an improvement in the English pronunciation of the students at the university level, we should train the teachers of English of primary and secondary levels. Training should be reasonably long, and repeated at some intervals. Secondly, in the curriculum and syllabus of those levels, some marks should be assigned to pronunciation of students. Thirdly, inspection teams should be appointed to check occasionally whether the teachers are following the rules and practices of correct pronunciation. Fourthly, a National Bureau for correct pronunciation should be set up to provide instruction and guidance to all concerned when necessary. Lastly, both students and teachers at all levels should be made conscious about the importance of good pronunciation.

Appendices

[This section should be given in a separate page. The documents of the following methods to conduct research have to be given here. For example, audio cassette of the recorded pronunciation of the students and teachers, some specimens of text books, names and designations of the persons who has helped in carrying the research out, etc.]

Bibliography

[This section should also be given in a separate page. There are different style manuals like MLA or APA. Any of the styles should be followed.]