முதலெழுத்துகள் முதலெழுத்துக் குறியீடுகள் மூலம் தமிழ் எழுத்துகளைக் கற்பித்தல்: ஓர் ஆய்வு

Teaching Tamil Letters Via Primary Letters and Primary Letters’ Symbols

Abstract

Teaching Tamil letters is the primary teaching method and plan for learning the Tamil Language, as stated in the Malaysian Primary School Tamil Language Curriculum plan. In teaching Tamil letters to first-year students, educators face challenges in countering the difficulties encountered by students in learning Tamil Letters due to the complexities of Tamil grammar. The process of letter introduction as planned in the first-year Tamil textbook and 247 letters in Tamil are the sources of confusion for students and teachers when efficiently learning and teaching Tamil Letters, respectively. Since the Education Ministry of Malaysia introduced the 21st Century Teaching methods, teachers have been urged by the ministry to implement this teaching method in their classrooms. The student-centred learning method is one of the teaching methods of the 21st century. The experts stated that Tamil Language teachers teach letters by approaching the teacher-centred form to their students, where they lead by using the ‘Tamil Nedungakanaku” table, letter memorising method, teaching according to the textbook and teaching through songs. Hence, educators strive to overcome challenges in teaching Tamil letters by incorporating a student-centred learning approach, and they have problems teaching Tamil letters orderly to their students, as found in this study. Due to that, this study explains teaching Tamil Letters through Primary letters and their symbols based on Tolkāppiyam”s Theory of Orthography. Tolkāppiyam has stated that the combination (puṇarcci) between 30 primary letters, also known as the combination between 12 Uyireḻuttu (Vowels) and 18 Meyyeḻuttu (Consonants), will bring out 216 Uyirmey letters with their respective symbols. So, to evaluate this teaching method, this study chose ten first-year Tamil primary school students from Perak state as samples. The samples for this study were selected by using the convenience sampling method. Letter cards and the ‘Tamil Nedungakanaku” table have been used as research tools. This study approached quantitative and qualitative research methods.