Research & Development


Research Activities



The Department has been involved in research activities related to Literary Theory, Indian English Literature, Indian Literatures in English Translation, Translation Studies, Gender Studies, and Applied Linguistics including English Language Teaching.

Teachers in the Department have completed four major and minor projects funded by the UGC, New Delhi:

  1. Dr JH Khan, ‘The Testing of English at the Collegiate and University Levels in Gujarat’ (Minor Research Project): 1985-87.
  2. Dr JH Khan, ‘Designing Courses and Materials for the Teaching of Compulsory English at the Undergraduate Level in Gujarat’ (Minor Research Project): 1990-92.
  3. Dr DS Mishra, ‘Dynamics of Social Change in Post-1970 Novels in Indian Languages (Western-region)’ (Major Research Project): 2001-04.
  4. Mr PB Raval, ‘Negotiating Identities: Globalisation, Culture, and History’ (Minor Research Project): 2009-11.

Current Thrust Areas

Gender Studies; New Literatures in English; Western and Oriental Literary Theories; Literature, Psychology, and Psychoanalysis; Indian Literatures in English and in English Translation; and Applied Linguistics are our current thrust areas

Two Phases of the UGC SAP-DRS

Phase-I (1 April 2004 to 31 March 2009): (a) Literary Representation of Community, Culture and Ideology; and (b) Literary Representation of Post 1970 Representative Literature in Gujarati, Hindi, and Indian English Literatures (Completed on 31 March 2009).

Phase-II (1 April 2009 to 31 March 2014): (a) Literary Representation of Social Change; and (b) Literary Representation of Social Change in Post 1970 Representative Novels and Plays in Gujarati, Hindi, and Indian English Literatures (Ongoing).

Development

  • Our faculty strength grew from 1 in the initial years to 3 by 1964; to 4 in the interim period between 1978 and 1980; to 4 in 1982 and 1986; to 5 thereafter; then to 7 between 1991 and 1997, but dwindled to 6 thereafter; went up to 7 again in 2003, but dwindled back yet again to 6 in 2006; and further to 5 in June 2008.
  • Currently, we have a faculty strength of 5, with 2 vacancies waiting to be filled. An NOC from the Government of Gujarat has enabled us to advertise 1 Associate Professorship recently and we have initiated the process to fill it up.
  • However, we had appointed 2 Assistant Professors on contractual basis from the funds available to us from our MA (SF) in 2008 to take care of the increasing workload, but one of them was selected by the GPSC last year and left last year to join a Government Polytechnic in Surat.
  • We were able to introduce newer disciplines and, in addition to the state-aided programme, we were the first University Department in the western region to establish a separate unit of MA in English Programme on a self-financing basis from 1995-96 onward.
  • We helped the University add an MA (External) programme about 5 years ago.
  • We introduced the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) and framed our syllabi as per the new scheme.
  • The MA today is a 100-credits programme, with each of the four semesters carrying 25 credits. This includes 3 core courses of 4 credits each; 2 elective courses of 4 credits each; a self-study course and a soft skills course, both of 2 credits each; and a comprehensive viva voce of 1 credit per semester on both the state-aided and self-financed MA programmes which had to be merged. They used to run at different times for core courses prior to that. The MPhil programme has been converted to Semester system in 2011-12 and will further convert to CBCS from 2012-13.
  • We have retained the annual system in our MA (External) programme and kept it out of the CBCS because we had initiated that programme in order to cater to the needs of the in-service school teachers who cannot join a full-time programme.

Periodic Revision and Restructuring of the Syllabi

The syllabi are updated every three years and have undergone numerous changes over the years. We are also involved in course designing and materials preparation.

Involvement with the State Textbook Board

Dr RP Jadeja (currently, Director, HMPIETR), Dr PS Joshi and Dr JH Khan were involved in work for the Gujarat State School Textbook Board, Gandhinagar. Dr Khan’s role was limited to two occasions, as a reviewer for Std VII English Reader in 1986, and as leader of the editorial team for Std XII (HL) English Reader in 1994-95.

Publications


We have the following five publications to our credit:

  1. RA Dave and RM Pancholi (eds), Adventures in English, Oxford University Press, Bombay, 1965. (An English course-book for students)
  2. DS Mishra and RP Jadeja (Ed), Stories for India, Macmillan, Chennai, 1993. (An English course-book for students)
  3. DS Mishra, RP Jadeja, and PS Joshi (Eds), Advanced English for Non-Native Learners, Oxford University Press, Mumbai, 1999. (An English course-book for students)
  4. Dayashanker Mishra, Dynamics of Social Change: Explorations in Post-1970s Gujarati, Hindi, and Indian English Fiction, Sardar Patel University Press, Vallabh Vidyanagar, 2009.
  5. Dayashanker Mishra and Ravikant Solanki, Voices of War and Peace in Dalit Literature: Contemporary Gujarati and Hindi Dalit Writers Talk, Sardar Patel University Press, Vallabh Vidyanagar, 2009.

History of the Department