- Bangladesh has over 160 million people living in a small and densely populated area, with high levels of poverty that impact education. English has a role as a global, colonial, and elite language in Bangladesh's education system and society. Donor-funded projects have attempted to improve English language teaching, but face challenges due to constraints and conflicting stakeholder interests.
- Bangladesh has over 160 million people living in a small and densely populated area, with high levels of poverty that impact education. English has a role as a global, colonial, and elite language in Bangladesh's education system and society. Donor-funded projects have attempted to improve English language teaching, but face challenges due to constraints and conflicting stakeholder interests.
- Bangladesh has over 160 million people living in a small and densely populated area, with high levels of poverty that impact education. English has a role as a global, colonial, and elite language in Bangladesh's education system and society. Donor-funded projects have attempted to improve English language teaching, but face challenges due to constraints and conflicting stakeholder interests.
- Bangladesh has over 160 million people living in a small and densely populated area, with high levels of poverty that impact education. English has a role as a global, colonial, and elite language in Bangladesh's education system and society. Donor-funded projects have attempted to improve English language teaching, but face challenges due to constraints and conflicting stakeholder interests.
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Bangladesh: The Socio-
political and Sociolinguistic
Context • Any language or education policy is, in effect, an expression of a people’s desires and aspirations which have been shaped by the polity’s historical, socio-political, cultural and economic contexts and realities. • Bangladesh is a densely populated Muslim-majority country in South Asia. • Over 160 million people live in a land area (143,598 km2) which is slightly bigger than New York State. • The country has made some progress in recent decades in reducing poverty and malnutrition, poverty still remains a chronic problem with over 30% of the people living below the • These socioeconomic indicators provide the rationale for the budgetary allocation for education in general and English teaching in particular. • Bangladesh’s investment of 2.2 % of its GDP in education is one of the lowest figures in South Asia (cf. Bhutan and Nepal each at 4.7 %) (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2013 ). • From a sociolinguistic point of view, Bangladesh is often portrayed as a monolingual country with 98 % of the people speaking Bangla, the national language. • It is generally agreed that there are around 36 minority groups, both indigenous and non-indigenous, many of whom have their own languages (Mohsin, 2003; Rahman, 2010) . • The national language is divided into several regional dialects (Morshed, 1994 ), one of which has been claimed as a separate language (see Hossain and Tollefson, 2007 ). • Over 300,000 stranded Pakistanis who speak their own language, Urdu, have lived in Dhaka since the end of the civil war of 1971. • Added to this is the dominant presence of Hindi in Bollywood films and music, which have become more popular than their local counterparts. English has a strong presence in the country, particularly in the education sector. • Arabic is used for Muslims’ religious practices and is also an important language in religious education in the country. The History of English in Bangladesh • As a global language, English enjoys a special status in Bangladesh, as in other former British colonies. • First introduced by the British East India Company in the early seventeenth century and later established through British colonial rule (Zaman, 2003 ). • However the language was seen as suspect by a significant proportion of both Muslim and Hindu communities, the legacy of which was the Angreji hatao movement formed after independence in 1947 in order to banish English from India (Guha, 2011) . • Despite this, English has not only survived but has also been established on the highest rank on the linguistic hierarchy – most plausibly due to its association with social elitism and • As a result, the movement aimed to banish English from India appears to have gone into self-banishment ( Times of India , 2004 ). • Although English education was introduced by Christian missionaries mainly for proselytizing purposes, the language became an object of social desire when it replaced Persian as the language of colonial bureaucracy. • Nevertheless, English came to be associated with social elitism given a wide gap between the demand and supply of • At the end of British colonial rule in 1947, the current territory of Bangladesh was established as one of the two wings of the Dominion of Pakistan—then called East Pakistan. • English served as the link language between East and West Pakistan, which was separated not only by languages and cultures but also by hostile Indian territories. • In addition to religion, a common language was considered important for forging unity among various groups of people. • However, Urdu as the state language of the Dominion of Pakistan was not received well in East Pakistan, where people protested against the imposition. • The Urdu-only policy was defended by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, at a civic reception in Dhaka on 21 March 1948, where he claimed that those opposing Urdu were enemies of Pakistan. • The Urdu-only policy was reiterated by Governor General Khawaja Nazimuddin, the successor of Jinnah, in a speech at the University of Dhaka on 27 January 1952. • This loss of life for the “mother tongue” marked the beginning of an intense language-based nationalism which not only restored Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan but also ultimately led to the separation of East Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent country in 1971. English in Post-independence Bangladesh • The new nation of Bangladesh inherited Bangla as a potent symbol of identity and national aspirations. • It also inherited the legacy of the Language Movement and strong ideologies around the “language heroes”. • Special minarets were built throughout the country to commemorate those who died. • Bangla was given official recognition as the national language in the nation’s first constitution. • In promoting Bangla with nationalistic fervor, minority groups and their languages were ignored. • Although the English language received policy recognition for “historical reasons”, Bangla-centric sentimentalities overshadowed any discussions about the role of English within the new nation. • In practical terms, English had already been relegated to a foreign language from its earlier status as a second language which was the means of intra- national communication during the • The restriction of English in the public sector, however, was responsible for the strengthening of the language in the private sector in the form of English- medium schools opened for the wealthier classes. • The realization of the increasing value of English by the socially privileged class led to an expansion of the market in the 1980s. • This has led to the current situation, in which English-medium schools are now ubiquitous in Dhaka and other metropolitan centres as this schooling has become a default choice for those with financial ability (Hamid & Jahan, 2015 ). • In the 1970s and 80s, nationalistic fervor was weakening and the nation was waking up to the necessity of English. • Falling standards of English in the country were reported by a special task force commissioned by the Ministry of Education in the late 1970s (BEERI, 1976) . • After several incremental reforms in the 1980s, English was introduced as a compulsory subject from Grade 1 in 1991. • The policy of early English (access policy) was followed by other efforts such as the introduction of communicative language teaching (CLT) in the late 1990s (methods and materials policy) (Farooqui, 2008). The Education System in Bangladesh Three major streams : 1. The dominant stream is general or secular education which caters for 83 % of the school-going population. 2. Madrasa education which provides Islamic education together with secular subjects such as English, mathematics, sciences and social sciences. 3. English- medium education which is provided by privately run schools for the social elite and members of the professional The Role of English in the Education System • In secular education, it has the same status as the national language in the school curriculum and occupies almost 19 % of the curricular space. • Like Bangla, English is taught every day in the class, between one and two class periods of 35–45 min. • English is dominant in the elitist English- medium schools and has a marginal status in lower status madrasa education (Rao & Hossain, 2011) . • English has a higher status in secular education, but nowhere near that of English-medium schools. • Anecdotal evidence suggests that English learning outcomes in the three streams of education can be correlated with resource investment. • Optimal investment in English-medium schools (from private sources) results in optimal output while poor English- learning outcomes in madrasas can be attributed to negligible resource investment in English teaching. • English teaching and learning has yet to produce desirable outcomes across the country, particularly in secular state schools and madrasas where the majority of children are schooled. • Poor levels of English proficiency are common among students and teachers alike in Bangladesh. • Low levels of English are particularly common in rural areas. The Role of Donor-Funded English Language Education Projects • It is in part due to the limited success of implementing quality English language teaching in Bangladesh that, in addition to the NGOs like BRAC, there is an important role for donor- funded English language projects at various levels of education. • These projects tend to be supported by British and American sources as well as international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). • They operate at all levels of education including primary, secondary and tertiary, focusing primarily on teacher education. • The project faced multiple challenges, not only fi nancial and environmental constraints, but also confl icting interests of the various stakeholders • DfID withdrew funding in 2002, but the project continued through two more phases and managed to train an additional 17,328 teachers. • During the period in which it was active, ELTIP succeeded in introducing a new course book series which was adopted in schools throughout the country, and in setting four regional and twelve satellite resource centers for training purposes. • Further project – which has overlapped with ELTIP in part – is the Teaching Quality Improvement in Secondary Education Project (TQI- SEP), funded by the ADB, the Canadian International Development Agency and the Government of Bangladesh and implemented by the Ministry of Education (MoE) from 2005 to 2011. • This project aimed to train 28,000 English teachers, but due to budgetary constraints, not even a quarter of this number received training by 2010. • Another small-scale initiative is the British Council’s English for teaching, teaching for English (ETTE) project which began working in 2008 with a view to developing primary teachers’ English and pedagogical skills, predominantly in rural areas where it was felt that poor teaching was having a knock-on effect into the other sectors. • It is for this reason that English in Action (EIA) was designed as a large- scale project with significant funding • Funded by DfID the project aims to reach nearly 100,000 teachers across the country. • The focus of the school-based programs in EIA is on achieving enhanced and improved English language learning through the professional development of teachers – both by supporting their skills in student- centered, communicative language teaching and the improvement of their language • What makes EIA different from its predecessors is its innovative model of teacher development supported through self- study materials delivered through low-cost mobile phones, or the “trainer in your pocket”. • Evaluation of the project so far indicates that it is helping to increase the English language skills of teachers and their ability to teach communicatively (Walsh et al., 2013) , but it remains to be seen whether the project will be able to make the lasting impact that is needed. A Critical Examination of Policy Outcomes • The implementation of English language education policies in Bangladesh have met limited success, and this despite rather significant support from NGO and international donor agencies. • These disappointing results of English teaching and learning are not unique to Bangladesh. The Politics of Language and Nationalism • One factor limiting the implementation of English language education in Bangladesh is the politics surrounding the national language. • Consequently, English in Japan has been subjected to Japanese as can be understood from the discourse of Japanization of English or the emphasis on Japanese citizens who can use English • Similarly, given the political sensitivity around Malay, the national language, which has an ambiguous status particularly among minority language speakers (e.g. of Chinese or Tamil), the Malaysian Government cannot fully endorse English. • Although the Government values the role of English for Malaysia’s place in a globalized world, it also fi nds it diffi cult to promulgate English-medium instruction policies within the context of Malay nationalism • T he politics of national language plays out somewhat differently in Bangladesh. • The country maintains clear divisions between the public and the private sectors and this has had a considerable impact on the teaching and learning of English. • One parental strategy that will ensure that children learn English is to bypass public sector schooling altogether and send children to English-medium schools, provided families can afford the • Many of the common discourses that associate English with knowledge, technology, human capital, employment, income, social mobility and economic development found in the literature are also dominant in Bangladeshi society. Financial Limitations: English as “A White Elephant” • The politics of language apart, another factor that constrains English in education is limited financial investment or what Kaplan and Baldauf ( 2003) call an inadequate ‘resources policy’. • The very small percentage of 2.2 % of the GDP that Bangladesh can afford to invest in education is not surprising given the level of its socioeconomic • The policy of English for all may have been motivated by the principle of social justice: if English brings good to individuals, it should be made accessible to all. • Language policies, by definition, are optimistic, but when policies are uninformed by affordability, these appear to be a mere political eyewash aimed at impressing the electorate with false promises of English. • The situation has been aptly described using the metaphor of a “white elephant” – a burdensome policy which consumes scarce national resources but cannot be disposed • The consequences of the limited investment in English are conspicuous, particularly in rural areas where schooling in general and English teaching and learning in particular are met with harsh realities in terms of infrastructure, logistics, teacher skills and expertise and students’ educational needs including textbooks. International ELT Projects • Internationally funded projects have in fact been a major source of English language reforms, curriculum and materials development and teacher development programs in the country. • Projects have met limited success despite limitations due to constrained budgets, environmental and political factors. • Innovative uses of technology to support a school-based model of supported open and distance learning may be harnessing new potential that could facilitate the training of English Teacher Professionalism
Why Bangladesh has limited success?
• Lack of professionalism among English teacher regarding. • Language proficiency. • Content knowledge. • Pedagogical skills. • Inadequate personnel policy. • Policy makers in Bangladesh have not taken into account the resource and personnel policies required for successful implementation. • Teacher issues have been high lightened as a major source of ELT failure. In case of Bangladesh ,the issues are complex: 1.Teacher education and training are found deficient in language skills. 2.Teachers do not have opportunities to use language for improving their communication skills. 3. Teachers may not be motivated to engage in learning and professional development. The National Assessment System • Another factor that strongly influences the teaching of English in schools is the national exam system, evaluation policy. • School instruction is dominated by what is tested in the examination - aspects of grammar and reading and writing. • the Bangladeshi system, as some other systems in the world including, does not assess speaking and listening skills and so these are rarely focused upon in the classroom. Dysfunctional Schooling and the Private Market • Lack of professional capacity and teacher expertise and the generally dismal state of Bangladeshi schools. • Teachers in schools have to worry about making additional income outside school because one salary is simply not enough for a decent living. • Many of them thus turn to private tutoring, which has spread all over the country as in some other parts of the world, particularly in East Asia such as Japan, Korea, and Hong • Moreover, in an environment of growing competition for college/university places and employment, parents with sufficient economic and cultural capital may not risk their children’s education and future by relying exclusively on ineffective formal schooling. • Since access to private tuition is mediated by socio-economic factors, its practice raises questions of education and social justice, as those with limited financial ability are denied access to this alterative learning opportunity Students’ Perspectives • Students from all streams have positive attitudes towards English and are willing to learn the language which they consider important for their futures. Their experiences of learning and learning outcomes are strongly influenced by two key factors:
1.Parental socio-economic status
2.Geographic location of the family -which are crucial in mediating children’s access to good schools and language resources at home and the community