Good day, Dr. A. Dinesh. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

I'm good. I'm ready to start, Sir.

Hi.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia.

Yes, good morning Doctor A Dinesh. I completed my PhD from Hyderabad Central University. My PhD is in the area of managerial communication where I specifically try to understand the gender difference in managerial communication, where I try to understand what kind of language style do male and female managers use when they communicate? When they communicate, is there a gender difference in managerial communication or the communication? Between men and women, manager are the main.

Interesting if the difference, what are the probable reasons that make the communicative style to be different? That was my PhD study where for which I gathered the managerial e-mail communication.

In addition to my PhD, I have an M Phil from the American College, Madurai. As part of my infill research work, I carried out my research in the area of collaborative and cooperative language teaching.

Professor

To customize to functional English classroom. Generally in functional English classroom we would have typically between a 60 plus student participant. But an ideal classroom cannot have more than 25. But an Indian classroom system is not the same.

So this particular problem I thought of coming out with a solution, a workable solution. Then I came came across this particular language teaching method called collaborative. Then I try to implement that in the class and we had a fantastic research finding from this particular study. Then during my masters at Madras Christian College, Chennai, I did my research.

So to cater.

In the area of functional English, the impact of functional English curriculum and the need for what are the requirements from the student end. So really the curriculum, does it match the requirement or is it a very cliched or very template kind of, I mean, curriculum is there. So that's my infill research work. Sorry, MA research work. So this these are my what to say my educational qualification. In addition to that, I have six years of reaching.

Students at various premier institution across India.

At Bangalore in Jackson Business School where I was part of a personality enhancement program and then I was part of Triple IT Hyderabad where I taught Ms. Mtech students for the soft skill and the language development activity. Right now I'm associate with the Sivasavani Institute of Management in Hyderabad. Here I'm associated since 2021.

This is my fifth year.

And it has been a great experience. I also in my present role along with my teaching role, I also take care of the student club activities. I'm a firm believer that not just a language classroom alone where we can teach the learner, but through various Co curricular and extracurricular activities. I believe that student can learn a lot of important skills which are required for the real time world, real-world scenarios. So in that context I come from. NCC background. I'm an athlete.

So all these things gave me a overall development. So I would like to try the same with my student friends. In this context, I try to take care of the student club activities in our college. And then I've been heading the student club from the inception that I associate with my present organization with which we have carried out quite a lot of activities where students really had a real time experience.

And as part of various club initiatives.

Then I have a six research publications, out of which three general publications, 2 Scopus index book chapters, then one ABDC C category publication in the very latest one. Then I have the privilege to publish, I mean draft a book.

With esteemed professor from English, Professor Prakasham from English and foreign languages.

Have rich experience in linguistics. Along with him, Professor Prakasham from AFLU. I also collaborated with Doctor Sharpna from the university. V3 sat together and then we wrote a book on handbook on phonetics and the pronunciation. It has came out really well and we have sent the final part draft and then we have done the revision stage. It is the final stage of revision. Hopefully in another 30 days in a month, we will be optimistic to see the hard copy of the.

Uh, he was, uh.

Then I have a couple of research projects funded project by the government of I1 by AICTE, where as I said before for the student club initiative, we could get ₹1,00,000 from the AICTE for the development of student club activities with which we initiated a lot of lectures, a lot of extracurricular activities like drama, photography, workshop as part of student club initiative, non culinary as well. So.

These things, uh, this is one of the project. Another project is on bilingual language teaching material for government school students in Tamil Nadu. This is a project funded by British Council India worth of ₹8,00,000. So that's a project. I'd like to share more about this particular project as we proceed with the interview. So with my academic qualification, my research publication, my projects, then my extracurricular Co curricular activities. As I said, I'm an NCC cadet.

And AB and C certificate and I. Also I'm in long distance athlete so these are certain.

Profile about me, so I'd like to answer more in the due course of our interview.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you for the question. It's very important in the present day context to have a digital humanities into the classroom because these days we have the classroom, they are called as Gen. ZS. They are considered to be the tech natives. They have born and grown along with the technology. So in this particular context, the teacher who are not the tech natives mostly they most of them are tech immigrants. Who weren't grown with the with it during I mean along with the technology, but they asked after they have a certain experience they try to associate with the technology and then they're learning that growth of technology and then they're trying to incorporate it. So they are considered to be tech immigrants. So when the tech immigrants teaching the tech natives the IT is there is a very big gap where people take natives. They get things so quickly and instantly, but they miss out certain important. Uh, aspect called learning the process of it, especially when it comes to language, language is not a product, rather it is a process. So they fail to miss on the process of learning it. Therefore, I feel and I strongly believe that, uh, how to, uh, take students can make use of technology, but they cannot over reliant on that. They need to understand the process of language learning. So in that context. I come what to say, I customize my assignments most of the.

Thank you, Professor Dinesh, for sharing such an extensive overview of your experience, qualifications, and achievements. It gives a comprehensive sense of your academic pursuits, teaching philosophy, research, and extracurricular involvement. Let's now proceed systematically to verify specific areas of expertise and contributions that align with the role of an English Professor. Let me start with "Digital Humanities," one of the skills pertinent for this role. Could you explain your understanding of Digital Humanities and discuss how you have integrated digital tools or technologies into your teaching or research?

For example, an assignment that I would give to my students are they need when I when I teach the course on cross cultural communication, the student has to interview individual who is having a real cross cultural experience across India or other than India. For example, someone who is studying abroad, someone who is working abroad, they need to identify someone they need to contact through LinkedIn and then they need to tell about that assignment.

Uh, take home assignments to be more practice oriented rather than just technology driven.

They need to fix the schedule. Since it's a different country, the time frame is also different. So on a mutual timeline they need to find a slot and then they need to perform this particular. What to say.

Conduct this interview and then they would be submitting the report as well. So this in this context we would be conducting, I mean our learners.

Add a real time experience rather than just depending on the technology. So through this I'm trying to make our learners not over dependent on technology, rather they try to coexist with technology. I cannot just say the technology is bad, but I need to make my learner to understand how they can ethically use the technology at the same time they can use their creativity and they can have a real time.

Therefore, I feel digital humanities is a very important and interesting aspect in the present day context in order to stay relevant to the present day student generation.

Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Dinesh. Your approach to integrating digital humanities into the classroom by emphasizing ethical technology use alongside experiential learning is commendable. It showcases a balance of leveraging digital tools while fostering a deeper understanding of processes, particularly in communication and cultural contexts. Let's move ahead to evaluate the next key area, "Commonwealth Literature." How do you approach teaching Commonwealth Literature, and could you provide an example of a specific theme or text you have taught in this area, including how you contextualized it for your students?

Well thank you. As I said, most of my orientation is towards English language teaching, though I have my MA in English, BA in English mostly my specialization is in the area of ELT, English language teaching. Not much towards literature, though I have read a couple of, I mean some works in the common literature. I have a strong belief that it is very important to teach.

The Commonwealth literature in a contact country like India and the Commonwealth countries because English is a language, which I mean a country like India where English is the second language, English is not the native language. So mostly it is believed that English is a language of elite class, but whereas it is not the truth, it's not the fact anymore because. We these I mean as we know that English.

The speakers across the globe are divided into 3 categories. English is native language, native speakers, English as the second language, and English as the foreign language. So the native speakers are less. The second language has speakers have O outnumbered the native speakers in terms of the number of speakers. So in that context, most of the second language speakers are predominantly from the Commonwealth countries. In that context, they also.

And deliberate a lot of literature. So in that context, in order to know about their viewpoint, their stance, it is important to listen to their voices as well. So in that context, teaching Commonwealth literature to the Indian students and to the Commonwealth countries is very important and relevant to understand their view of the world and their side of the world.

There are a lot of work that I've read from India in contexts as well as from South African contexts.

Uh lineman the jewel by also and various other works as well. So I, I strongly believe uh, teaching Commonwealth literature, uh, is important.

Yes.

Moving on, let us assess your expertise in "English Language Teaching." Could you outline how you structure your language teaching methodology, particularly catering to large and diverse classrooms, as commonly seen in Indian educational institutions?

Absolutely, yes. This is where my 4 tire is. Yeah, it is so important. Especially a class or a country like India which is not homogeneous in any single aspect. It is heterogeneous in every single aspect. When I say every single aspect in terms of language, culture, economic, social, political reasons. So they are diverse in every single aspect. In every I mean. So in that context we cannot go with one size fits. It's all rather we need to customize our language teaching style according to the learners needs and wants. In addition to English language teaching, one of my other specialization is also in ESP English for specific purpose. So I try to customize my language teaching according to my students need, want and then the requirement. For example, when I taught at the triple IT Hyderabad where it was more. As technical students, they are from M Tech.

Ground for those students. I happen to teach a lot of technical subjects where the orientation is small. But later after my PhD, I happen to teach to business students. There the orientation is absolutely different. Where the orientation is more on persuasive communication because in a business context where they're teaching has to be more, I mean the learner has to learn the persuasive communicator style, whereas in a technical institution they need to learn a lot about. Typing, they need to write a lot about proposal writing so that I as I said before, I customize my language teaching according to my students requirement, want and need. And not just in terms of the domain, even in terms of their proficiency. If their language proficiency is at the higher level, if it is at the intermediate level, it is at the beginner level. I try to customize it accordingly. To put it in simple term, I always say this particular term I don't.

Whether it is ethically, I mean it is right or wrong, but I believe somewhere is ethically correct. What I do is that I believe in equity in the classroom, not just equality. Please understand I'm not forgoing the equality but not just equality, rather equity. Why? Because student come from diverse background. Someone who come from a rural background, I cannot assess him or her. With someone who come from a metropolitan background, so the kind of complexity.

Are the kind of expectation that I have from a student who come from a rural background or someone who comes with a less rather than a rural background. I'd like to use the word less resource background than my expectation from them would be different from someone who comes with their I mean what to say more exposure to come with the more exposure. So I know it is challenging from as a teacher, but I take.

To see every learner to move from wherever they are to the next level rather than just having a uniform assessment pattern. So it's a little toil on from my side, but I love to take that because by end of the day, I want all my student to progress from point A to B to C to D to E to F so that they can see the progress. Because if I have a uniform pattern, then someone who is the advanced level, they don't have a relevance when for a beginner level kind of an assessment.

That effort because by end of the day I want.

So my assessment will be varied according to the proficiency of the learner which I would be contacting at the very beginning of the semester to know what is their existing, what to say calibre or the language ability. Accordingly I would be assessing them.

Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Dinesh. Your focus on equitable teaching and adaptability showcases a deep commitment to fostering meaningful progress for students from diverse backgrounds and varying levels of proficiency. It also reflects the nuanced understanding necessary for teaching in a heterogeneous educational ecosystem like India. Next, let us evaluate how you approach "guiding student projects and research." Could you share an example of a project you guided where you significantly impacted the student's learning experience or research outcomes?

Will be allotted with the close to 6 to 8 student, call them as mentees and I'll be the mentor for them. So what I would do is that as soon as they come after the first term, I try to understand their basic what to say their profile. When I say profile, I mean to say they're where are they? But their background, their previous education qualification, their strengths and weaknesses, what are their what is their specialization. So once I understand the basic profile and build a wrapper with them. Then according to their areas of interest, for example, out of the eight student 2 may feel that their area of interest may be from marketing, some may say their interest in communication, some may say they're interested in human resources. So what I would try to do is that I used to club them together to finance human resource students, two marketing students, two commutative interested student. And then I'll ask them, hey, come on, I'll just give them a problem statement. And then for that particular problem statement, what is there? What is their?

Wow, amazing question. Very much relevant in the present day context where every institution talks about research and collaboration. I have a strong belief that research is not a process in isolation or it's not just a process in isolation. Rather it is more a collaborative work where I have my own mentees in my present organization. So every first year, as soon as they come, I'll each.

Union, it's more an informal discussion rather than a formal discussion with because they are just in their master degree and they are in their early stage towards their research. I cannot just have a very structured kind of a discussion to start with. I'll have a very informal discussion. I'll have a probing question, open-ended question to know their, to know their viewpoint, to know their real curiosity. And if we could strike a balance me and then with my set of students then we try to progress from.

There if that we could not strike a balance, then I try to change a different kind of an area or a topic which we we both can because my research idea I cannot enforce on my student where we both should have a common interest. So accordingly I try to collaborate a common theme between the between the mentor and mentee and we try to start the work.

So once we identify, then gradually we, I suggest a couple of research works, our literatures where I read and then I'll give my perspective. I'll try to listen from their perspective. To begin with. Always during the meeting, I will be the first one to initiate because sometimes they may not be in a position to how to review an article in that context. First. I do for the first couple of meeting, I'll just take their stance or their viewpoint. Then gradually I'll ask.

Both of both of them to present first, then I'll ask them to individually present so that gradual upgradation help them to make the process more enjoyable rather than making it more daunting task. I always believe in Steven Crash philosophy of I plus one where input plus one where the students existing language potential. From there we need to have one complex point so that that will challenge at the same time. Doable, which make the learner to be more happy and achievable and then they would be proceeding with that. So in that context, I process the research work accordingly. First we try to strike a balance. From there, gradually I have to take the initiative, then I gradually I drop them into it and especially on the data collection for the introduction stage. But because they are in their formative stage, I cannot ask them to do an extensive analysis rather. The I try to give them a broad picture about.

The area by reading the literature and reading the background of the study. From there we try to proceed and then I would do the analysis. After the analysis, I asked their suggestion rather than an interrogation. I believe in an curious city, open-ended questions. A curious open-ended question will make the learner also feel that Oh my service really looking valuing my viewpoint. So for that context, though one or two meetings if they miss out the third meeting or the 4th meeting in the forthcoming meeting. They understand that the Sir is really.

Valuing our idea, then they come prepared and then they used to share their, share their genuine opinions. So that's how I collaborate with my student and we have really come out with some interesting research works which are not exactly ready to publish, but it is almost there. Still. We need to customize it to various journals because when we design this particular work, we just carry that as a research work. But we could not, we didn't focus exclusively on any.

Specific journal, maybe going forward I need to really do little more work and then according to a journal requirement maybe I should start. But right now I'm not at that stage. But this is how I collaborate with my student for in the research work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Dinesh. Your detailed and student-centered approach to mentoring clearly reflects your dedication to fostering curiosity, critical thinking, and ownership of research among your mentees. It's evident that you prioritize the development of students' research abilities holistically, which undoubtedly prepares them for deeper academic inquiry. Let's now examine your ability to evaluate students effectively. Could you describe your approach to structuring assessments and exams to ensure they align with learning outcomes and promote both fairness and academic growth?

Again, I have my own reservation with this particular response that I would be sharing. As I said before, I believe in equity over equality.

Oh, definitely, definitely.

Especially when it comes to language assessment, because as I said, when we Indian classroom is diverse, heterogeneous in every single sphere. I would not do justice when I assess.

Everyone with the same, uh, what to say? Kind of an assessment. I try to give assignments or I have my own set expectation according to the proficiency of the learner.

Because.

They are diverse in multiple aspects in that context.

Yeah, students are uniform. I understand the inner mind, but still I value their individual differences and the background that they come from. So in that context, when someone who come from a resourceless what to say back group, I my expectation.

This are they putting in effort. My assessment are to put it in simple term, my assessment is purely based on the effort that the learner put in.

From wherever they are. If from A someone is at the stage of A, if he or she puts into the level of B or C, that's more than enough. When someone is at the C already, they start at C. Then my expectation will be at least minimum Dre if not F, But I'm someone who is at the F, my expectation would be at least from.

GRH. So the point is someone would be at the AI cannot expect the person from A to perform till H or someone who's at the level of CI cannot expect him or her perform till the level of G or H So I respect the individual difference and then I try to evaluate. I know it's a toiling task, but I love doing it because that's. A judicious call that I make, and to be I give another interesting or a surprise.

Are not someone who is with the great fluency of the language, rather someone who come from a very humble background, but they put in an effort and then they progress it. So it's not always who is with the great language proficiency or the Topper in my course, rather someone who put in a genuine effort or the toppers of my course. That's how I evaluate and I communicate the same to my director and to my head of the department.

Fact again, I'm, uh, I'm, I'm trying to be as ethical as possible. Uh, a surprising fact is most of the time my class or my course toppers.

They agree to it and based on their consent, that's how I've been following for the last four to five, five years in my present organization, which is very well accepted for a course like language. So that's how I do the evaluation part.

Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Dinesh. Your approach to evaluations—prioritizing individual progress and effort over standardized metrics—is thoughtful and adaptive, especially in diverse classroom settings. It underscores your commitment to fostering equitable learning opportunities and nurturing student growth at their own pace. Now, let's explore your experience in guiding theory and laboratory courses, particularly focusing on how you balance theoretical instruction with practical applications in language education. Could you share your approach to this?

I theoretical aspect, I would just take very minimal time for that and then I would straight away make them to get into the floor. I always make my learner to commit a do a lot of mistakes.

Absolutely, Absolutely.

I do not say that PD means scaffolding where learners will give us support and with that support they would be doing. For example, when a learner is trying to communicate, especially come from who's at an intermediate level, then I would give him a couple of vocabularies and ask him or her to frame a sentence with that vocabulary.

Because language learning is possible with mistakes, it's not possible by silence. So in that context, for example. Let's take ZPD zone approximate level by Vygotsky when I want to teach this particular concept.

Vocabulary and then ask them to do therefore the vocabulary that they are using is a scaffolding for them if they find it challenge to recollect it. So with that scaffolding they try to learn it. At the same time, when someone who's an advanced level, I give them a writing task to use the list of vocabularies or jargons that they have come across in a particular session in a unit and then to implement that in their writing without using any AI. So that's how.

Which we discussed in a particular class I gave them.