In India, English has a status of assistant language officially, but then truly it is the most significant language in India. Apart from the regional languages one common language which is spoken by people all over India is English. English grow into the first language in Indian education. The ‘modern’ leaders of that era in India also supported English language and claimed it to be the main key towards success. Indians who knew good English were seen as the new elite of India. Many schools established their standard by the language of instruction as English. Even today schools in India that emphasis English are considered better schools and the same is the case at university levels, even though there is a trend towards Indianization. 

The people of India, to update their knowledge according to the enormous development of science and technology, are fascinated to learn English. Since English continues to occupy a prominent position in school education, the number of students going to school contributes to the spread of English Bilingualism. English is both the medium of instruction and a subject of study in Indian schools. Now English medium schools are available throughout the country. In recent years, owing to great public demand, several new English medium schools have been established in the urban, semi-urban, and even rural areas. There is always a great rush for admission to English medium schools. Some standard-high schools admit only the elite and efficient sections of the society, where the near-native English fluency can be attained. Other people, fascinated by the elite societies language, seek English medium schools; otherwise opt for English medium in government schools, though medium of instruction is available in the regional language.

As the medium of instruction is English for many of our Indian children, it is not possible for them to learn other subjects effectively, without the competence in that language. As English is the base for their education, it is very essential to find out their appropriate level of learning at each stage. Though these types of assessments have been made by many western scholars, they have not given much importance or consideration to individual differences among the children in cross-sectional studies. In India studies on second language development is hardly done without focusing on individual differences. Also, no such second language development study has been done for Tamil mother tongue speakers and hence it has been undertaken.

This study has investigated the development of syntax in children of age 8 to10 years (i.e. from classes III to V] whose, mother tongue is Tamil and who learn English as a second language in schools. It has seen the causes for the individual differences such as; (a) influence of gender, (b) influence of teaching methodology followed by teachers, (c) influence of teaching materials, (d) influence of socio-economic status, and (e) influence of psychological factors. 
        
The study also tracked the order in acquiring the structures viz. plural concord, tense agreement, negative structure, Wh-question formation, Yes/No-question formation, and word order in sentence formation, mean length of sentence and comprehension.