The Nature and Scope of English Private Tutoring: An Analysis of the Shadowing Process and Middle-Class Identity in Globalising India

Abstract

While studies have discussed English Private Tutoring (EPT) as part of the multi-billion-dollar tuition industry, none have explicitly investigated the specificities of EPT nor shown how EPT interacts with social class dynamics in the wider Indian educational and societal landscapes. Drawing on an ethnography of schooling practices in Dehradun, India, this chapter discusses (1) EPT in relation to the ‘shadowing process’ underlying the private tuition industry and (2) the relationship between EPT and social class dynamics. It reveals the nature and scope of EPT provisions by showing how some tutorial centres consider English as an academic subject, closely aligned with its understanding in the formal education system, whereas others understand it as a language for communication purposes, fluency in which is desired by individuals across social and age groups. As such, the chapter discusses how private tutoring relates to, influences, shapes and is shaped by social class dynamics in India. Although embedded in the empirical context of India, the conceptual insights the chapter offers will help to understand the implications of EPT across societies, especially those that are post-colonial, which are also impacted by the forces of meritocracy, knowledge economy and globalisation.