Teaching, learning and evaluation are the three important activities of educational system and they are independent as well as interdependent activities. For the system to be more effective all the activities should be given equal importance. The ineffectiveness of any one of these will affect the system inexplicably. But the first two are, to a greater extent, emphasized in the educational system. Evaluation, as such, is not cared enough not only in language education but in other studies also. In fact, the process and product are very much important as far as evaluation is concerned. Apart from these two factors, namely, process and product, the ultimate objective of language education is to scientifically and systematically evaluate the competence and performance of the learners.

In the case of literature teaching, the expectations are very much significant. It is expected that the learners not only have to understand the content and poetics of the literature, including the techniques such as symbols, inner meaning, simile, metaphor, etc., but also the culture and human values expressed through them. Hence the process of teaching, learning and evaluation involved in literature teaching has a relevance to the application of the knowledge to real life situations.

In this milieu, the Central Institute of Indian Languages, the apex body for the development of Indian languages, has taken all the possible steps for the betterment of teaching of language and literature in terms of newer methods, techniques, and use of Information Communication Technology and through in-service training to teachers and production of handbooks in Indian languages. In the case of Tamil, the CIIL has already conducted more than 250 in-service training programmes for teachers of all the levels of education; printed and distributed about 16 handbooks for teachers; prepared significant number of audio-video course materials for teaching of Indian languages and literature produced 300 documentaries on different topics related to Tamil language, literature, culture, architecture, folk literature and arts, etc. for the benefit of the teachers and students in particular and the public in general.

The National Testing Service-India established in the Central Institute of Indian Languages to cater to the successful pedagogical needs of scientific and systematic teaching, learning and evaluation in different levels of language education has three primary objectives, namely, (i) creation of nationwide consensus and awareness about concrete methods and purposes of evaluation, (ii) production of basic reference materials and (iii) development of training human resources in this area. The NTS-India has been conducting orientation programmes for the teachers for successful implementation of the stimulating research findings on the concept based continuum of graded syllabi containing separate dimensions for language and literature. In these series of programmes, this is the first publication of its kind from the NTS-India for teaching, learning and evaluation of literature, especially of Sangam literature.

The concept of Sangam ‘literary association was initiated by various kings who ruled Tamil Land approximately for 7 centuries starting from 500 B.C. to 200 A.D. During this long period, Tamil poets have engaged themselves to compose poems and other literary activities with varying concepts. The result of this unique and pioneering venture, which became the fathomless monuments depicting the Tamils, their social structure, their interaction between nature including flora and fauna, war and, above all, the unmatched account of human relationship involving emotion and other complex relationships are well knitted and expressed in these literary works. In short, these works have become an active socio cultural and functional grammar of life style and human relationship between the ecosystems.

The extent of heterogeneity of these works not only reflected on the content but also on the style of the language structure, vocabulary used, the literary techniques, rhetoric, etc. Subsequently, an ordinary Tamil speaker will have difficulty in comprehending the intricate features of these poems and concepts. This book of 10 articles and the explanatory details of literary terms makes an attempt to segregate various aspects of the Sangam poems and help the users to understand them from various angles.

The systematically analysed articles included in this volume highlighting various concepts and aspects of Sangam literature are brought out in order to fulfil all the three primary objectives of the NJS-India. The readers of this volume will definitely be benefited by these microscopically examined, illustrated, well informed and evaluated articles in enjoying Sangam literature. Further, it can also inculcate among the readers creative thinking and creative writing and create an awareness of the range of applications that are possible for evaluation of various aspects of language education, especially, literature. I am sure that this volume will have a tremendous effect on those concerned with language or literature education.

**Contents and Sample Pages**