The Routledge Handbook of English Language

“A few years ago, I was invited to serve as the Honorary President of the Festival
of Teaching in Difficult Circumstances. It was a humbling experience. I met inspir-

ational teachers doing innovative and creative teaching and research with minimal
resources and support. Through the Festival, we did our best to showcase this work,
but at the time, I thought how wonderful it would be if these local practices could
find their way to a global audience. It was a publication such as this that I had in
mind. It is therefore an absolute delight to endorse this fine collection. Finally, a
major international publisher has seen fit to provide a vehicle through which schol-
arly work in Bangladesh can be introduced to the rest of the world. This is a monu-
mental piece of work and the editors and publisher are to be congratulated for
bringing it to fruition.”
David Nunan, Professor Emeritus, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
“The period of borrowing language norms and pedagogical practices from Europe
or North America is over. Even in English Language Teaching, local communities
are defining their own norms and rewriting their history. The Routledge Handbook
of English Language Education in Bangladesh is an inspiring example of local scholars
researching, theorizing, and implementing educational practices their people need
in terms of their rich linguistic and intellectual traditions. Beyond relevance to this
country, the Handbook will provide a radical vision to other communities in the
Global South on how they can define their own norms and pedagogies for English
Language Teaching.”
Suresh Canagarajah, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA
THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH
LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH
This Handbook is a comprehensive overview of English language education in Bangladesh.

Presenting descriptive, theoretical, and empirical chapters as well as case studies, this Handbook,
on the one hand, provides a comprehensive view of the English language teaching and learning
scenario in Bangladesh, and on the other hand comes up with suggestions for possible decolon-
isation and de-eliticisation of English in Bangladesh.
The Handbook explores a wide range of diverse endogenous and exogenous topics, all related
to English language teaching and learning in Bangladesh, and acquaints readers with different
perspectives, operating from the macro to the micro levels. The theoretical frameworks used are
drawn from applied linguistics, education, sociology, political science, critical geography, cultural
studies, psychology, and economics. The chapters examine how much generalisability the the-
ories have for the context of Bangladesh and how the empirical data can be interpreted through
different theoretical lenses.
There are six sections in the Handbook covering different dynamics of English language educa-
tion practices in Bangladesh, from history, policy and practice to assessment, pedagogy, and iden-
tity. It is an invaluable reference source for the students, teachers, researchers, and policy makers
interested in English language, ELT, TESOL, and applied linguistics.
Shaila Sultana is Professor in the Department of English Language, Institute of Modern

Languages, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
M. Moninoor Roshid is Associate Professor of English Language Education in the Institute of

Education and Research (IER), University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Md. Zulfeqar Haider is Professor and currently the Chair of the Department of English, Govt.
Muminunnisa Women’s College, affiliated with the National University, Bangladesh. He is a
senior member of the Bangladesh Civil Service (General Education) cadre.
Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir is Assistant Professor of English Language in the Institute of
Modern Languages, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Mahmud Hasan Khan is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Humanities,
University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh.
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The Routledge Handbook of English Language Education in Bangladesh

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International-Handbooks-of-Education/book-series/HBKSOFED
THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
EDUCATION IN
BANGLADESH
Edited by
Shaila Sultana, M. Moninoor Roshid,
Md. Zulfeqar Haider, Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir,
and Mahmud Hasan Khan
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Shaila Sultana, M. Moninoor Roshid, Md. Zulfeqar Haider, Mian Md.
Naushaad Kabir, and Mahmud Hasan Khan; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Shaila Sultana, M. Moninoor Roshid, Md. Zulfeqar Haider, Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir, and Mahmud
Hasan Khan to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters,
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Sultana, Shaila, editor. | Roshid, M. Moninoor, editor. | Haider, Md.
Zulfeqar, editor. | Kabir, Mian Md. Naushaad, editor. | Khan, Mahmud
Hasan, editor.
Title: The Routledge handbook of English language education in Bangladesh/
edited by Shaila Sultana, M. Moninoor Roshid, Md. Zulfeqar Haider, Mian
Md. Naushaad Kabir, and Mahmud Hasan Khan.
Description: First. | New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. | Series: The
Routledge International Handbook Series | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020022684 (print) | LCCN 2020022685 (ebook) |
Subjects: LCSH: English language–Study and
teaching–Bangladesh–Handbooks, manuals, etc. | English
language–Study and teaching–Bengali speakers–Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Classification: LCC PE1068.B3 R68 2021 (print) | LCC PE1068.B3 (ebook) |
DDC 428.0071/05492–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022684
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020022685
ISBN: 978-0-367-40575-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-35680-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Handbook is dedicated to
the young English Language Education
and Applied Linguistics professionals
CONTENTS
List of figures xiii

List of tables xv
List of contributors xvii
Foreword: Reclaiming ELT in Bangladesh (Alastair Pennycook) xxiv
Prologue:The trajectory of the Handbook xxxi
1 Introduction: English language and English language education

in the multilingual ecology of Bangladesh: Past, present, and future 1
Shaila Sultana and M. Moninoor Roshid
PART I
History, language-in-education policy, and planning in Bangladesh 15
2 From the infrastructure to the big picture: A critical reading of English

language education policy and planning in Bangladesh 17
Shakila Nur, Megan Short and Greg Ashman
3 A balanced approach to language-in-education policy and planning

in Bangladesh: Rethinking the current trend 33
Tania Rahman
4 Confluence of influences shaping ELT in Bangladesh 46

A. M. M. Hamidur Rahman
ix
Contents
PART II
English language curriculum reformation and pedagogical practice 61
5 Starting from practice: A microanalysis of participants’ compliance

to de facto L2-only schooling in a Bangladeshi ESL classroom 63
Rizwan-ul Huq
6 Are tertiary EFL learners ready for input enhancement technique

in Bangladesh? 82
Akhter Jahan and Subramaniam Govindasamy
7 Future directions for research-based Academic English education

at EFL universities: An evaluation of the context 96
Md Golam Jamil and Kazi Mafizur Rahman
PART III
Assessment and testing in ELT 113
8 English language assessment in Bangladesh: Washback effect

of current practices and the way forward 115
Rubina Khan
9 The methods of learning English language: A critical evaluation

of test-focused teaching in Bangladesh 130
Sabrin Farooqui
10 An impact analysis of questions within an external examination

on English language: Reflecting on validity and reliability 149
Md. Zulfeqar Haider, Robiul Kabir Chowdhury and Jack B. Holbrook
PART IV
Teaching English language versus literature 171
11 Grace under fire: A reflection on the state of English studies in Bangladesh 173
Shamsad Mortuza
12 Towards critical–affective pedagogy: Anglophone literatures

in Bangladeshi English language classrooms 186
Mashrur Shahid Hossain
13 Literature in language teaching: The myths and the realities in Bangladesh 202
Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir
x
Contents
14 Content and language integrated learning: A case study on

simultaneous teaching of English literature and language in a
private university in Bangladesh 219
Asif Kamal
PART V
Language learning and construction of identity 239
15 Perception of social class and the discursive construction of identity

in the medium of instruction space 241
Iffat Jahan
16 ‘Khaet’ (hick) vs. ‘fast’ and the construction of others: Educational

background and identification of university students in Bangladesh 255
Shaila Sultana
17 Socioeconomic identity practices of Bangladeshi young adults

through English pronunciation 271
Saima Akter
18 A critical exploration of private university students’ approach

towards English as a medium of instruction in Bangladesh 284
Mahmud Hasan Khan and Shaila Sultana
19 Investigating gender equity in a primary level English language

textbook in Bangladesh 298
Afroza Aziz Suchana
20 Identity construction and professional performance

of government college teachers in Bangladesh 312
Kakali Chowdhury and M. Moninoor Roshid
21 An autoethnography of a ‘musafir’ life exploring English

language education 327
M. Obaidul Hamid
PART VI
Teacher education and English for economic development 339
22 The role of language teacher associations in professional development 341

Arifa Rahman
xi
Contents
23 Curriculum of English language teacher education in Bangladesh:

Relevance of Morgan’s critical ELT approach 356
Anwar Ahmed
24 English for human capital development 369

Md. Maksud Ali and M. Obaidul Hamid
25 BELF competence for professional communication in the

ready-made garments industry in Bangladesh 382
M. Moninoor Roshid
26 Ideologies of English as a language for economic development in

Bangladesh: Critical insights from two research projects in Bangladesh 397
Qumrul Hasan Chowdhury and Elizabeth J. Erling
27 Conclusion: Lessons from the past and the future directives

for English language education in Bangladesh 411
Mahmud Hasan Khan, Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir and Md. Zulfeqar Haider
Index 420
xii
FIGURES
2.1 Policy trajectory framework 18

2.2 The infrastructure of ELEP in Bangladesh 19
3.1 An integrative model of language-in-education planning in Bangladesh 41
5.1 Image 1 from an English lesson 68
7.1 RIT categories 98
7.2 Theoretical framework for context evaluation 99
10.1 Marks per polytomous item showing a normal distribution 153
10.2 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 10 under Board 1 160
10.8 Mark distribution pattern for Board 1 164
13.1 The diagrammatic representation of BICS and CALP 204
13.2 Post reading activities in an EfT lesson from Unit 3, lesson 2 210
13.3 Post reading activities in an EfT lesson from Unit 4, lesson 2 211
14.1 Pre-test, CLIL lesson, and post-test flow chart 223
14.2 Participants views on the statement The lack of language competency is a barrier
for understanding English literature 225
14.3 Participants’ views on the statement Without English language support through
language lessons, understanding the content of English literature is difficult 225
14.4 Participants’ views on the statement For understanding literary contents, language
support simultaneous to content lessons for students is necessary 226
14.5 Participants’ views on the statement Language lessons parallel to content lessons
helped the learners in terms of understanding the literary contents 226
xiii
Figures
14.6 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL Literature helped to improve

English vocabulary 227
14.7 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL has helped improve grammar 228
14.8 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL did not hamper the objective of
literary course 229
14.9 Participants’ views on the statement Learners are distracted or diverted from literary
lessons while language lessons are imparted 229
14.10 Participants’ views on the statement Lessons through CLIL were enjoyable 230
14.11 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL lessons in literature classes are better
than lecture based lessons of literary contents 231
14.12 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL hampered the learning of literary
contents 232
14.13 Participants’ views on the statement Allotted class/interactions time for
simultaneous teaching of content and language lessons is sufficient 232
14.14 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL did not help to improve (your)
English language skills 233
14.15 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL did not help to improve
knowledge of literature 233
15.1 Snapshot of the Facebook page 245
16.1 Schematic representation of selves 259
19.1 References of more male nouns 303
19.2 Men and women in different sports activities 308
19.3 A man as a firefighter 309
19.4 A woman as a singer 309
20.1 Identity construction process and features 315
25.1 Model of global communicative competence in business context 384
25.2 The basic roles of different RMG personnel 385
xiv
TABLES
2.1 A chronological summary of EL and ELEP in different policy documents 23

6.1 Independent samples t-test results for the note-taking task mean scores 87
6.2 Cross-tabulation of treatment and noticing question scores 88
6.3 Descriptive statistics for gain scores for the fill-in-the-blanks task 88
7.1 Correlation between AE learning environment and RIT practices 101
7.2 Student perceptions about RIT practices, environments, and applications 101
7.3 Difference based on university type (independent-samples t-test) 102
7.4 Differences based on academic discipline and language of instruction in
previous education (ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD) 102
9.1 Layout of question papers 132
10.1 A comparison of the sample and the total population for the study 152
10.2 Candidates’ score on question 1: Board 1 154
10.5 Distribution of candidates’ overall scores for question 1 under three Boards 155
10.17 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 6 under three Boards 158
10.21 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 7 under three Boards 159
xv
Tables
10.22 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 3 under the three BISE 159
10.23 Percentage distribution of candidates’ scores for question 12 under
three Boards 163
10.24 Percentage of candidates’ scores for question 2 under three Boards 163
10.25 Comparison of all candidates’ total score in English Paper 1 164
13.1 Five Myths and realities of using literature in LT 208
14.1 Average test score as findings in CLIL literature class experiment 224
14.2 Pre-test and post-test result for vocabulary development through CLIL 227
18.1 Topics and questions raised in the classes, assignments, exams,
and in semi-structured interviews 289
19.1 Male–female referring nouns and pronouns 303
19.2 Firstness in placing female or male 304
19.3 Visibility of men and women 307
19.4 Men and women in occupation 308
20.1 Demographic information of the participants (total 19) 317
22.1 Compositional features of SPELT, BELTA and NELTA 344
24.1 CLT techniques and their relevance to human capital development 373
xvi
CONTRIBUTORS
Editors
Md. Zulfeqar Haider received his PhD in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)
from Monash University, Australia where he did his MEd (TESOL) previously. He serves as
a teacher trainer, teacher and coursebook writer for various government-run projects and
institutions. He is the co-author of six English textbooks titled English for Today published by
National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), Bangladesh. A Professor and the Head of
the Department of English, Govt. Muminunnisa Women’s College, Mymensingh, Dr. Haider has
been a member of various English Curriculum Committees of NCTB. His research interests
include teachers’ professional development and learning, language testing and assessment, and
21st century learning. He has published more than a dozen scholarly articles and book chapters
in local and international journals and books.
Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language,
Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka. He holds a PhD from The English and
Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. He is the Vice President of Bangladesh English
Language Teachers Association (BELTA) and Founding Executive Editor of BELTA Journal. His
areas of interest include curriculum and materials evaluation, testing and assessment, multilin-
gualism and multiculturalism, ecolinguistics, and translingualism.
Mahmud Hasan Khan is an Associate Professor, teaches English in the Department of English
and Humanities, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. He has two PhDs from the International
Islamic University Malaysia and Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. He examines the
debates around medium of instruction policy and politics/formation of identity from a dis-
course analytical perspective. He has taught and published scholarly articles and book chapters
in his areas of interest. His recent publications have appeared in journals like Discourse: Studies in
the Cultural Politics of Education, Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Higher Education and Multilingua:
Journal of Cross-Cultural Studies.
M. Moninoor Roshid is an Associate Professor of English Language Education in the Institute

of Education and Research (IER), University of Dhaka. He has about two decades of experience
xvii
Contributors
in language teaching and research. He was awarded his PhD on Teaching English as a Second
Language (TESL) at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. He has a number of publications on
English focusing on ELF, international business communication, material development, discourse
analysis, graduates’ employment, and university-industry partnership published by Sense, Sage,
Routledge, Multilingual Matters, and Cambridge Scholars. His recent co-edited book is Engaging
in Educational Research: Revisiting Policy and Practice in Bangladesh published by Springer, Singapore.
Shaila Sultana is a Professor in the Department of English Language, Institute of Modern

Languages, University of Dhaka, has been educated at Jahangirnagar University (Dhaka),
Monash University (Melbourne), King’s College (London), and UTS (Sydney). Her research
interests include trans approaches to language and identity, sociology, critical geography, and
the historical and sociocultural significance of English in post-colonial countries. She has
authored articles in renowned international applied linguistics journals, such as Linguistics and
Education, International Multilingual Research Journal, International Journal of Bilingual Education and
Bilingualism, Journal of Asia Pacific Communication, Asian Englishes, Translanguaging and Translation
in Multilingual Contexts, International Journal of Multilingualism, and Journal of Sociolinguistics.
Her co-authored book entitled Popular Culture, Voice and Linguistic Diversity: Young Adults On-
and Offline has recently been published by Macmillan, Palgrave (USA). Two chapters titled
“Gender performativity in virtual space: Transglossic language practices of young women in
Bangladesh” and “Linguistic and multi-modal resources within the local-global interface of the
virtual space: Critically aware youths in Bangladesh” have also been published in Language and
Culture on the Margins: Global/Local Interactions and Critical Inquiries in the Studies of Sociolinguistics
of Globalization from Routledge Critical Studies in Multilingualism (UK) and Multilingual
Matters (USA) respectively.
Contributors
Anwar Ahmed taught English at BRAC University and North South University in Bangladesh.
In 2018, he completed his 2-year postdoctoral fellowship at St. Francis Xavier University in
Canada. Currently, he is an Adjunct Lecturer in the English Department at Glendon College of
York University. His articles have appeared in journals such as Educational Philosophy and Theory,
Professional Development in Education, Discourse, Reflective Practice, Teaching in Higher Education,
Educational Studies, Curriculum Inquiry, International Journal of Leadership in Education, and
International Journal of Research and Method in Education. Anwar’s forthcoming book is Knowledge
Mobilization in TESOL: Connecting Research and Practice (Leiden: Brill).
Saima Akter is a Lecturer at United International University, Bangladesh. She completed her
MA from the Institute of Modern Languages (IML), University of Dhaka with a major in ELT.
She completed her Bachelor’s from the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) with a
double major in English Literature and Language. Her research articles have been published in
local and international journals. Her areas of interest cover sociolinguistics and gender studies,
psycholinguistics, phonetics, materials development, curriculum, and test development.
Md. Maksud Ali is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature
at International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), Bangladesh. Currently as a PhD
researcher at the University of Queensland, Australia, he is researching human capital develop-
ment and English language education in Bangladesh.
xviii
Contributors
Greg Ashman is a lecturer in Languages and TESOL at the University of Tasmania in the
School of Education where he works with pre-service language teachers. Dr. Ashman has exten-
sive experience in the teaching of languages and has a specific interest in looking at how lan-
guage learners learn and how we, as teachers, can provide programmes and experiences that
encourage positive learning and outcomes.
Kakali Chowdhury teaches EFL in the Higher Secondary and Tertiary level colleges in
Bangladesh. She holds her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English Literature from the
University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, and a Master’s degree in Education (TESOL) from
Monash University, Australia. Currently, she is working at Mohammadpur Govt. College under
the Ministry of Education, Bangladesh. Her areas of interest include EFL teacher education and
teacher identity development.
Qumrul Hasan Chowdhury is a Assistant Professor of English Language in the Institute

of Modern Languages at the University of Dhaka. He completed his PhD in the Centre
for Language, Discourse and Communication at King’s College London. He has worked in
several research projects in Bangladesh in the areas of English and economic development,
and internationalisation of higher education. His current research interest is ELT and
development. He has published chapters in the book The Routledge Handbook of Language
and Identity (2016) and articles in the journals World Englishes and Journal of English as a
Lingua Franca.
Robiul Kabir Chowdhury is a Senior Specialist (Examination and Evaluation) working

in Bangladesh Examination Development Unit under Board of Intermediate and Secondary
Education, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He started his career as an English teacher at the secondary level
and spent 10 years there before joining Bangladesh Examination Development Unit and has
been working there till date. He did his Bachelor and Master of Arts in English Literature. Robiul
has written a number of articles in international and national journals and daily newspapers
focusing on Assessment and Measurement.
Elizabeth J. Erling is a Professor of English Language Teaching research and methodology at

the University of Graz, Austria. She has been engaged with international ELT for over 20 years,
working in the contexts of Austria, Bangladesh, Germany, India, Korea, and the UK. Having
previously worked as a Senior Lecturer in English Language Teaching and International Teacher
Education at the Open University, UK, she was involved in the English in Action project in
Bangladesh from 2008 to 2012. Her research explores the value attributed to English as a lan-
guage of economic development, social mobility, and intercultural understanding, and she is
particularly interested in how these values shape language education policy and contribute to
the growth of English-medium instruction. She is Editor of the books English across the Fracture
Lines: The Contribution and Relevance of English to Security, Safety and Stability in the World (British
Council, 2017), and English and Development: Pedagogy, Policy and Globalization (Multilingual
Matters, 2013).
Sabrin Farooqui completed her PhD in TESOL from the Faculty of Education in the
University of Sydney where she explored the impact of training on English teachers in the
secondary schools in Bangladesh. She has more than 15 years of English language teaching
experience in Australia and Bangladesh. Her research interests include language teaching meth-
odology, language assessment, teacher education, and curriculum evaluation. She has highlighted
xix
Contributors
various issues in the educational system of Bangladesh and the probable solutions through her
publications in her scholarly papers in various international journals and presentations of papers
in conferences all over the world. She is currently working for the Federal Government of
Australia.
Subramaniam Govindasamy (EdD, Rutgers University) taught at the Department of English

Language and Literature, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). He is trained in
the tradition of Columbia School of Linguistics, which is steeped in Saussurean semiotics. He
has published in international journals and is currently researching on developing a meaning-
based approach to semantics. His other research interests include language acquisition, semantic
mapping, language planning and policy, and linguistic theories.
M. Obaidul Hamid is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL Education at the University of Queensland,

Australia. Previously, he worked at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. His research focuses
on the policy and practice of TESOL education in developing societies. He is the co-editor of
Language Planning for Medium of Instruction in Asia (Routledge, 2014). He is on the editorial boards
of Current Issues in Language Planning, English Teaching Practice & Critique, and Journal of Asia TEFL.
Jack B. Holbrook is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Science Education, University of
Tartu, Estonia. Initially trained as a chemistry/maths teacher in the UK (University of London),
Jack spent 5 years as a secondary school teacher before moving into teacher training, first in
the UK followed by Tanzania, Hong Kong, and Estonia. Currently, Jack is involved in guiding
science education PhD students, European science education projects, and being an International
Consultant in Curriculum, Teacher Education, and Assessment. Jack’s qualifications include
a PhD in Chemistry (University of London), FRSC from the Royal Society of Chemistry
(UK) and Past President and Distinguished Award Holder for ICASE (International Council of
Associations for Science Education). Jack has written a number of articles and book chapters in
international journals and as a co-editor for a book entitled The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Science
Education in Post-Soviet Countries.
Mashrur Shahid Hossain is a Professor of English, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

He teaches, researches, publishes, and presents papers on a host of areas, ranging from Comparative
Literature and Postcolonialism/Decoloniality to Critical Pedagogy, Cultural Studies, and Queer
Studies. He is presently working on two book-length projects. The first one examines ‘extreme’
theatre and music with a view to exploring the utopian potential of media, and the second one,
formulates a framework of teaching ‘English’ literatures in Bangladesh.
Rizwan-ul Huq is a PhD candidate in Educational Practice at the Department of Social and
Welfare Studies, Linköping University, Sweden. His research focuses on language practices of
bilinguals in pedagogical settings.The wider interest of his research lies in bilingualism and social
interaction.
Akhter Jahan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English, East West University, Dhaka.
She has recently earned a PhD in English Language Studies from International Islamic University
Malaysia (IIUM). Prior to that, she achieved MA TESOL from the University of Lancaster, UK,
winning Hornby Scholarship (2011–2012). She is a teacher trainer as well. She presented papers
and published research at both home and abroad. Her interest areas include ELT methodology,
second language acquisition, teacher training, curriculum development, and materials design.
xx
Contributors
Iffat Jahan has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Queensland, Australia. She
taught English language, Applied Linguistics, and English literature at the University of Dhaka
and East West University in Bangladesh. Her research interests include language and identity
in school, news media, and social media spaces. She has published articles in Current Issues in
Language Planning and Comparative Education Review.
Golam Jamil is a Researcher in the Transforming the Experience of Students through

Assessment (TESTA) programme at the University of Bristol, UK. Previously, he worked
as a Research Fellow (Learning and Teaching) at Solent University in the UK and led
the Professional Development Centre (PDC) at BRAC University in Bangladesh. He also
designed and taught language, education, and professional development programmes at uni-
versities in Bangladesh and the UK. His academic interests include assessment, technology-
enhanced learning, research-informed teaching, English for Academic Purposes, and
applied pedagogies. Dr. Jamil is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK (the
Advance HE).
Asif Kamal is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at American International

University-Bangladesh (AIUB), teaches English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for
Specific Purposes (ESP), and English literature courses. He has published several of his research
articles in different national and international journals, and presented research papers in inter-
national conferences in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Nepal. He has also co-authored English
for Academic Purposes, a module for tertiary-level ESL classes in Bangladesh produced under British
Council and University Grants Commission. He completed his graduation from Jahangirnagar
University and currently he is pursuing his PhD on Relevance of Content and Language Integrated
Learning to English Literature Classes in Bangladesh.
Rubina Khan is a Professor of English Language and Teacher Education at the Department of
English, University of Dhaka. She has an MA in TESOL from the University of Northern Iowa
and a PhD in ELT from the University of Warwick. She has worked as an educational consultant
on testing and teacher development on a number of national and international projects. Her areas
of interest are testing, assessment, evaluation, teacher education, and leadership skills. She is the
President of BELTA.
Shamsad Mortuza is a Professor (on leave) of the English Department at the University of
Dhaka. He is currently acting as the Head of the Department of English and Humanities and
Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh. He has previously taught at
many universities including his alma mater Jahangirnagar University, where he was the Chair
of the Department of English between 2005 and 2008. As a Fulbright scholar, he pursued his
second MA in American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona. For his PhD, he attended
Birkbeck College, University of London. His doctoral dissertation “The Figure of the Shaman
in Contemporary British Poetry” was published by Cambridge Scholars Publishers in 2013. He
also received his CELTA certification from St. Giles College, London. In 2013, he received a
Fulbright scholarship for the second time to go to UCLA as a senior visiting postdoctoral fellow
to conduct research on occultism. He has published numerous articles and book chapters in
reputed national and international journals. His collections of poems, Barkode, and non-fiction
pieces, I Spy were published by Adorn. He serves on the editorial boards of Crossings (ULAB)
and Six Seasons Review (Bengal).
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Contributors
Shakila Nur is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Modern Languages
at North South University, Bangladesh. She received her doctoral degree from the University
of Tasmania, Australia. Earlier, she did her Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and ELT at
the University of Dhaka. She has a background of teaching English at King Khalid University
(KSA), Presidency University (Bangladesh), and Independent University of Bangladesh. She has
presented papers and published articles at national and international levels. Her research interests
include English language education policy and practice, inequity in English language education,
teachers’ professional development, language testing and assessment, and discourse analysis.
Alastair Pennycook is a Distinguished Professor of Language, Society, and Education at UTS.

He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan
at the University of Oslo, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Alastair has
been involved in language education for over 30 years in France, Germany, Japan, China, Canada,
Hong Kong, and Australia. He is well known for his work on the global spread of English, par-
ticularly in his classic text The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language (Longman,
1994), which has just been reissued as a Routledge Linguistics Classic in 2017. Also well known
is his work on critical approaches to language education and Applied Linguistics, outlined in
Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2001), and collected in a
new selection of his writing from Shanghai Foreign Language Press. His most recent work
focuses on post-humanism and Applied Linguistics and looks at the ways in which humanity’s
focus on itself has excluded animals, things, and places, with implications for how we understand
language, sharks, and assemblages.
Arifa Rahman is an English language educator, involved in developing and empowering

English teachers from marginalised communities. With experience in teaching, research,
materials design and assessment, she has published extensively, and presented nearly 100 papers
at international forums. Chief Editor, BELTA Journal and on the editorial board, Journal of Asia
TEFL, her current research interests are context and culture, inequity in language education
policy, and the role of social responsibility among ELT educators. Dr. Rahman has recently
retired as English Language Professor from the Institute of Modern Languages, University of
Dhaka, but continues to be a freelance ELT activist.
Tania Rahman teaches English language at the Department of English & Modern Languages
(DEML) of North South University in Dhaka. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the Institute
of Modern Languages (IML) of the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. She received her MA in
applied linguistics from the National Institute of Education (NIE) of Nanyang Technological
University in Singapore in 2010. She has published in reputed international journals, such as
Current Issues in Language Planning (CILP) and The Linguistics Journal with renowned publishing
houses, such as Taylor & Francis, Routledge, and Springer.
A. M. M. Hamidur Rahman is a Supernumerary Professor of English at the Institute of Modern

languages (IML), University of Dhaka. Earlier, he worked as Professor of English language and
Applied Linguistics in the same institution. He is also working as Advisor and Dean-in-Charge
of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Daffodil International University, Dhaka.
He obtained BA (Hons.) (1968) and MA in English (1969) from Rajshahi University, attained
Diploma in Teaching English Overseas (1976) from the University of Leeds School of Education
and MEd with Teaching English as a Foreign Language (1979) from the University of Wales,
Institute of Science and Technology. He has numerous publications and research in the area of ELT.
xxii
Contributors
Kazi Mafizur Rahman is the Head of Academy at BLJ Career Academy, a leading professional
training provider in Bangladesh. He was the Director of Career Counselling at State University
of Bangladesh and taught English language at BRAC University and the University of Dhaka.
Mr Rahman studied Language Education at the Institute of Education and Research (IER),
University of Dhaka; and completed MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
(TESOL) at BRAC University. He has conducted independent research in the field of technology-
enhanced English language teaching and presented papers at conferences in Bangladesh and Italy.
Megan Short is a Lecturer in Language and Literacy (specifically in TESOL) in the Faculty of
Education at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Prior to joining the University of Tasmania,
Megan taught humanities at the post-compulsory level. Megan’s research interests tend to focus
on the way that language and culture intersect in language teaching in a range of contexts
using a range of methodologies, particularly critical discourse analysis. Megan has co-edited two
publications on critical discourse analysis and literacy and language teaching in a global context.
Her current research explores cultural, social, and academic adjustment for international students.
Afroza Aziz Suchana is a Assistant Professor in the Department of English Studies at Asia
Pacific University of Bangladesh. At present, she is a PhD researcher at the Institute of Modern
Languages, University of Dhaka. She also completed her BA (Honours) and MA in Applied
Linguistics and ELT from the Department of English, University of Dhaka. Her areas of interest
include gender equity in textbooks, communicative language teaching, materials evaluation, and
code-switching. She presented and published scholarly articles on these areas.
xxiii
FOREWORD
Reclaiming ELT in Bangladesh
Alastair Pennycook
This important Handbook suggests a coming of age for English Language Teaching (ELT) in
Bangladesh. A new generation of Bangladeshi scholars is taking over the project, a process that
is as much about epistemological and political change as generational shift. This is about taking
ownership of ELT in Bangladesh, about gaining control of the ELT enterprise from its former
Northern masters. A Handbook such as this shows us ways forward in thinking about ELT in
Bangladesh and elsewhere, announcing that this is now part of a project of doing things on local
terms, of provincialising foreign expertise, of viewing English as part of South Asian multilin-
gualism, of working out how a critical, decolonial English Language Teaching project can serve
local goals and aspirations rather than those of regional elites and external powers.There is much
here for the rest of the world to learn about language policy, pedagogical practice, assessment,
literature, identity, and economic development.
From Colonial English to English in Action

How did we get to this point? The seeds of English were, as elsewhere in South Asia, planted
by colonialism. In Bangladesh, ELT receded in the years following colonialism and subsequent
independence, as a struggle to create a nation from the mess of partition, and the dominance of
Urdu-oriented West Pakistan, created a new emphasis on Bangla-oriented nationalism. English
was, nonetheless, bound to creep back: English was delivered as part of the aid package to the
impoverished country (Erling, 2017; Rahman, 2015); Bangladeshi elites were keen to ensure that
they at least had had access to and control over this language of global power. As global politics
started to shift as we entered the 21st century,Western powers sought to promote English to limit
the perceived effects of Islamic education and to coerce poorer nations into a neoliberal world
order (Tupas & Tabiola, 2017).
The massive English in Action project (‘changing learning, changing lives’) has been the most
recent of many development-oriented programmes in Bangladesh, with its goals to change ELT
in the country in order to ease the move into the global economy. The rise of neoliberal ideolo-
gies and practices sealed this progressive English creep: As limitations on English in schools were
relaxed, English became a compulsory subject. An emphasis on human capital and participation
in the global economy led to English being taught from an ever-younger age, with English being
increasingly used as a medium of instruction, and a lure to private schools and universities. As
xxiv
Foreword
Bangladesh has sought to emphasise English as part of its ticket into a new status in the global
economy (Hamid, 2016; Hamid & Erling, 2016), it has struggled to free itself from the tentacles
of the Global North and its English-supportive institutions. The formal end of colonial rule by
no means saw the end of coloniality (Maldonado-Torres, 2010).
English arguably remains the language of the Global North, not so much because its origins
lie in geographically northern regions, but because it is so embedded in the institutions and
injustices that the Global North has created that its prevalence and use cannot be separated from
the political and economic forces that dominate the world. An English-speaking Bangladeshi
elite is already closer to the Global North than to the Global South that surrounds it. In order
to understand the localisation of ELT in Bangladesh, therefore, we have to keep our eyes on
the broad horizons of global political and economic relations. English did not spread globally
as if it had a capacity to take over the world without being pushed by many forces that saw an
interest in its promotion, and pulled by many who also perceived value in acquiring it.The global
spread of English, whether in Bangladesh, Japan, or Colombia, cannot be understood without
an understanding of contemporary inequalities fostered by globalisation and neoliberal ideolo-
gies and the emphasis away from equity, welfare, and government spending towards privatisation,
deregulation, and the rule of the market.
Neither, however, can it be understood without an understanding of the local conditions of
class, religion, gender, and education that have an equal influence on what English is under-
stood to be, who gets access to it, or who rejects its pernicious effects. These entanglements
of English (Pennycook, 2020) draw our attention to the multiple levels and ways in which
English is part of social and political relations, from the inequalities of North/South political
economies to the ways it is connected to discourses and ideologies of change, modernisation,
access, and desire. “Any discussion of English as a global language and its socioeducational
implications”, Rubdy (2015, p. 43) reminds us, “cannot ignore the fact that far from being a
solution to the dismantling of ‘unequal power’ relations in the world, English is in fact often
part of the problem”.
The promotion, use, and teaching of English in contexts of economic development, military
conflict, religious struggle, mobility, and tertiary access have to be understood in relation to the
meanings English is expected to carry, as a language of progress, democratic reform, religious
change, economic development, advanced knowledge, popular culture, and much more. These
connections are by no means coincidental – they are a product of the roles English comes to play
in the world – but they are at the same time contingent.They are a product of the many relations
of power and politics with which English is embroiled. When we talk of English today, we mean
many things, not many of them necessarily having to do with some core notion of language.
The question becomes not whether some monolithic entity called English is imperialistic or an
escape from poverty, nor how many varieties there may be of this object English, but rather what
kind of mobilisations underlie acts of English use or learning. What is actually meant by parental
demand for more English, state policies in favour of English medium education, test scores for
English, media critiques of levels of English may differ widely. It is not English – if by that we
mean a certain grammar and lexicon – that is at stake here; it is the discourses around English that
matter, the ways in which an idea of English is caught up in all that we ineptly do in the name
of education, development, and change.
Rather than the bland terms in which English is often framed – as a neutral medium of
international communication, a language that holds out the promise of social and economic
development to all those who learn it, a language of equal opportunity, a language that
the world needs in order to be able to communicate – it is also an exclusionary class dia-
lect, favouring particular people, countries, cultures, forms of knowledge, and possibilities of
xxv
Foreword
development; it is a language which creates barriers as much as it presents possibilities. English

language education may be quite irrelevant for many of the world’s poor, and to argue that it
might facilitate poverty reduction is to allocate resources away from where they are needed
(Bruthiaux, 2003). Individually oriented access arguments – a person may have better job
prospects if they learn English – have to confront larger concerns about education, class, and
development.
While there is across the globe a huge popular demand for English and English-medium edu-
cation, English language education has many deleterious effects, from the distortion of already
weak primary education sectors (as English is increasingly promoted, other languages and areas
of the curriculum suffer), to the further consolidation of disparity between urban elites and
the rural poor (Ferguson, 2013). Ramanathan’s (2005) study of English and Vernacular medium
education in India shows how English is a deeply divisive language, tied on the one hand to the
denigration of vernacular languages, cultures, and ways of learning and teaching, and, on the
other, dovetailing with the values and aspirations of middle class Indians. A very similar case can
be made for Bangladesh: While English opens doors to some, it is simultaneously a barrier to
learning, development, and employment for others, deepening divides between the urban and
rural, the religious and the secular, the wealthy and the poor.
Delinking English Language Teaching

The world Englishes (Kachru, 2005) and English as a lingua franca (Jenkins, 2015) movements
have both, in their own ways, sought to turn English into a language of the Global South. By
insisting that English is the property of all, that ownership of English no longer rests in the
hands of its so-called native speakers, that English can be understood as global, variable, and
multilingual, proponents of these two related programmes have aimed to delink English from
its origins and ownership and to shift the centre of English from the Global North. While both
have arguably achieved some success in this endeavour – enabling many to see English as locally
inflected, as no longer encumbered by conventional decrees, as no longer tied to particular
speakers and places – such gains have only been partial. Neither framework provides the tools
to engage with the political and theoretical delinking that is necessary to decolonise English
(Kumaravadivelu, 2016). As Rubdy (2015) notes, we need to decolonise rather than just plur-
alise English as part of any emancipatory project. More politically engaged approaches such as
linguistic imperialism (Phillipson, 2009), meanwhile, have presented only a dystopian narrative
of English domination, failing thereby to attend to the complex relations between English and
its uses and users.
We cannot understand English in Bangladesh without detailed understandings of the ways in
which English is embedded in local economies of desire, or ways in which demand for English is
part of a larger picture of change, modernisation, access, and longing. It is tied to the languages,
cultures, styles, and aesthetics of popular culture, with its particular attractions for youth, rebel-
lion, and conformity; it is enmeshed within local economies, and all the inclusions, exclusions,
and inequalities this may entail; it is bound up with changing modes of communication, from
Facebook to text messaging; it is coupled to religious education, madrasas, and the choice
between din (religious understanding) and duniya (material conditions). To understand the diver-
sity of what English is and what it means in all these contexts, we need to avoid prior assumptions
about globalisation and its effects and develop instead critical studies of the local embeddedness
of English. We cannot therefore sensibly discuss ELT in Bangladesh without considering how all
that is done in policy, practice, curriculum design, and assessment is connected to broader pol-
itical and ideological questions. What are the wider implications of promoting an English-only
xxvi
Foreword
policy or encouraging first language use in a classroom, choosing between locally and inter-
nationally produced textbooks, deciding that ‘furnitures’ or generic ‘isn’t it?’ is acceptable or
unacceptable, choosing to work at a private language school or the state system, insisting on
or ignoring the English spoken by so-called native speakers, assessing students according to
grammars from elsewhere?
This Handbook marks, we can hope, the start of a movement away from particular forms of
dependency (though not, of course, from questions of power and politics), a move away from
a reliance on particular forms of English, practice or expertise. We would do well to question
the linguistic, educational, and pedagogical ideologies behind “the one-classroom-one-language
pedagogical straightjacket” (Lin, 2013, p. 540) that many current ELT approaches continue
to endorse, and embrace instead a broader, multilingual approach to our classrooms. Rather
than focusing so intently on English as the sole objective of our teaching, we can start to
reimagine classes as part of a broader multilingual context, and indeed, following Motha (2014)
to engage in a project of provincializing English. For a decolonisation of ELT in Bangladesh to
occur, as in other areas of Applied Linguistics, struggles for social and cognitive justice (Santos,
2018) need to be combined with alternative ways of thinking about language, policy, teaching,
and assessment that focus less on some putative variety of English and more on how English
resources may be part of multilingual repertoires (Dovchin, Pennycook & Sultana, 2017; García,
2014; Sultana, 2014).
An emerging goal of ELT may be less towards proficient native-speaker-like speakers (which
has always operated with a deficit-based view of language), nor towards proficient non-native-
speaker-like speakers (which has equally accepted a problematic vision of ways of using English)
but rather towards more fluid, polycentric understandings of resourceful speakers (Pennycook,
2014). This is not the polycentrism of a World Englishes focus, with its established norms
of regional varieties of English, but a more fluid notion, based on the idea that students are
developing complex repertoires of multilingual and multimodal resources. This brings the recent
sociolinguistic emphasis on repertoires and resources into conversation with a focus on the need
to learn how to negotiate and accommodate, rather than to be proficient in various varieties
of English. It enables us to think in terms of ELT in Bangladesh aiming to develop resourceful
speakers who are able to shift between styles, discourses, registers, and genres, and who can draw
on multiple linguistic and semiotic resources.
Towards a grammar of decoloniality

While the idea of what counts as English has received a decolonising impulse from several
directions – from World Englishes to postcolonial literatures – the methods of ELT have been
slower to shift, linked as they are to major economic and cultural interests (Pennycook, 1989).
Communicative language teaching – that harbinger of neoliberal times (Lin, 2013) – arrived in
many countries with the experts and textbooks that were part of the neocolonial development
package. The discourse of development that inhabits these programmes is a view that teaching
methods in the South are outmoded, overlooking questions of contextual appropriacy, cultural
practices, and the locus of the Northern gaze. Much that has been written on language in edu-
cation in Applied Linguistics has focused almost entirely on how language is taught in the Global
North, and how changes have emerged and developed in the North before spreading to the South.
As critiques of the role of organisations such as the British Council in ‘brokering English studies’
in India (Rajan, 1992; Tickoo, 2001) have suggested, the tendency to assume that Northern
knowledge and educational practices are both superior to and applicable to contexts in the South
has a long and detrimental history. Phan (2017) makes a similar point in her critique of the
xxvii
Foreword
development of mediocre English medium education, as Western institutions sell their educational
packages wholesale to regions of Asia.
A major challenge for a decolonised Applied Linguistics is to decolonise teaching methods and
our understanding of them (Pennycook, 1989). Amongst other things, this implies engaging with
the many other traditions of language education (and without inscribing them into the reduc-
tively ‘traditional’ of Methods discourse), in African, Meso-American, Asian, Hindu, Buddhist,
and Islamic educational thoughts and practices (Reagan, 2018). Everything in the classroom –
from how we teach (how we conduct ourselves as a teacher, mullah, facilitator, organiser), what
we teach (whether we focus only on English, on grammar, on communication, on tests), how
we respond to students (correcting, ignoring, cajoling, praising), how we understand language
and learning (favouring noise over silence, emphasising expression over accuracy), how we think
of our classroom (as a site for serious learning or a place to express ourselves), to the materials
we use (materials from the local community, government-provided textbooks, carefully prepared
tasks), the ways we organise our class (in rows, pairs, tables, circles), and the way we assess the
students (individually, collectively, in cognitive isolation or collaboration, against strict norms
or in terms of varied language possibilities) – needs to be seen in terms of social and cultural
practices that have broader implications than just elements of classroom interaction.
As southern theory and related movements start to challenge the epistemologies and institu-
tional racism of the Northern academy (Pennycook & Makoni, 2020), it is becoming increasingly
possible to present alternatives for how we can understand ELT in contexts such as Bangladesh.
Drawing on the work of Mignolo (2010) and others, Kumaravadivelu (2016) stresses the import-
ance of delinking from Eurocentric categories of thought, in order to unfreeze the potential for
thinking otherwise. He calls for a grammar of decoloniality, a more useful idea, one might suggest,
than a grammar of correct English, or at least something that every English teacher should see
as equally important. He argues for the discontinuation of those patronising studies that seek to
show that the non-native teacher can teach as well as their native speaker counterparts. What
we need instead, he suggests, are “context-specific instructional strategies that take into account
the local, historical, political, social, cultural, and educational exigencies” (Kumaravadivelu, 2016,
p. 81). In the context of Bangladesh, this would mean not just other Englishes, and other forms
of English literature, but other ways of teaching and learning.
Kumaravadivelu’s (2016) argument makes clear that although some areas of Applied
Linguistics have been subject to a decolonial critique, there is a very long way to go. We need
to decolonise language pedagogy, and especially the teaching of “colonial languages that over-
celebrate Eurocentric values while sacrificing ways of being and speaking of people who do
not fit the white, middle-class mold” (Macedo, 2019, p. 12). “How languages are learned and
taught, the political economy of the organisation of language curricula and language policies”,
Phipps (2018, p. 1) suggests, “favour the world’s colonial and imperial languages”. Both Phipps
and Macedo ask how we can decolonise the field of foreign language education, its ideologies,
languages, structures, and organisations. A Handbook such as this points to ways in which this
can happen, as a new generation of scholars takes ownership of ELT in Bangladesh, showing
how English language policy, pedagogical practice, assessment, literature, and identity can be
rethought. This does not mean discarding all that has gone before but rather relocating English
within a multilingual Asia, reclaiming ELT as a project in and of Bangladesh. Such a project
makes it possible for wider audiences to learn from Bangladesh, to see that ELT in Bangladesh
is a bigger and more interesting project than, say, ELT in the UK, that ELT practitioners and
researchers in Bangladesh have much to teach the rest of us about many facets of English
Language Teaching.
xxviii
Foreword
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xxx
PROLOGUE
The trajectory of the Handbook
The moment seems surreal for all of us. The Routledge Handbook of English Language Education
in Bangladesh has kept us preoccupied for more than a year. We have spent numerous hours in
meetings at the Department of English Language, Institute of Modern Languages, University of
Dhaka, countless emails with contributing authors from home and abroad, and many sleepless
nights in reviewing and finalising the chapters. Finally, keeping 25 chapters on board and
maintaining the pace for deadlines – when different personal and professional commitments
have distracted them and us, and motivating our own selves when the progress was hampered by
unwanted and unwarranted events – have altogether been challenging and daunting.That is why
writing the Prologue to the Handbook and getting it ready for the final stage is overwhelmingly
emotional for us. In this Prologue, hence, we intend to narrate our collective journey that has
culminated in this special moment.
The life trajectory of the Handbook started quite casually. One of our editors (M. Moninoor
Roshid) approached another editor (Shaila Sultana) with the idea of working on a book project
together. Neither knew the other in person earlier – only that both returned from Australia to
their home workplace, University of Dhaka, in different institutes (i.e. Institute of Education
and Research and Institute of Modern Languages, respectively) after completing their PhDs
and that both wanted to do something for English language education in Bangladesh. In 2018,
they met again in a conference, where all of us were present – as a panel member, a paper pre-
senter, or a workshop facilitator. We managed to have our very first meeting then and there
during the lunch break and identified the possible nature of the Handbook. Eventually, we
wrote the Call for Book Chapter (CoBC) and developed a book proposal within two weeks
of the conference.
Within a month, the dice was rolled – the CoBC was circulated among possible contributors.
We earnestly wanted the English language teachers and researchers working at various levels of
the education sector in Bangladesh to contribute to the Handbook, share their experiences and
perceptions, and make their voices audible. We received immense support and encouragement
from our senior academics who are the forerunners of English language education in Bangladesh,
namely, Professor Arifa Rahman, Professor Hamidur Rahman, Professor Dil Afroze Quader,
Professor Rubina Khan, and Harunur Rashid Khan. Distinguished Professor Alastair Pennycook,
University of Technology Sydney, Australia, also took a keen interest in the Handbook and agreed
to write a foreword to it. Dr. Obaid Hamid from the University of Queensland, Australia,
xxxi
Prologue
who has conducted intensive research on English language education in Bangladesh and published
extensively, also came forward and showed his genuine willingness to help us.
Meanwhile, we received a total of 72 abstracts from both home and abroad. Out of them,
after a careful peer review, a total of 52 abstracts were selected for full chapter submission of
which 45 chapters were received in time. Following a blind peer review process, a total of 25
chapters were finally accepted on the basis of the selection criteria set by the panel of editors. A
formal book proposal along with the selected abstracts was sent to Routledge UK. We did have
lots of apprehensions, fearing if we would be able to manage the mammoth task for a reputed
publishing company like Routledge UK – a Handbook on the past, present, and future of English
language education in Bangladesh – which had not been done before in Bangladesh. Katie Peace
from Routledge pleasingly informed us that our book proposal initiated a discussion to have a
series of handbooks on English language education in different Asian countries. We ultimately
received the contract for the Handbook after a long spell of waiting.
This Handbook, nevertheless, was meant to happen. We all have met at the right time at the
right turn of our lives. Five of us have recently finished our Ph.Ds and we want to contribute to
the field of English language education and applied linguistics in Bangladesh with our insights
developed from our intense doctoral research and publications. In addition, we consider it our
responsibility to create a platform for the young academics and scholars in Bangladesh and
encourage and support them to research.We are also respectful to the forerunners of English lan-
guage education in Bangladesh. They have paved the way for introducing English language edu-
cation in the 1980s in Bangladesh and have done the groundwork for us to pursue our academic
and research careers in English language education and applied linguistics. Thus, we want the
Handbook to be a collaboration of the experienced and budding English language educators from
home and abroad, working in the context of Bangladesh. In this Handbook, we also expect to
connect the past, present, and future of English education, develop a critical awareness about the
emergence of the English language industry, and create a dialogue among ourselves for bringing
about positive changes to English language learning and teaching and, in general, to the practices
in Bangladesh. We also want to deeliticise the coloniser’s English, so that it loses the power to
marginalise some and empower others and the English language may be used to decolonise the
society and education system in Bangladesh.
In addition, we intend to extend our support to young Bangladeshi potential academics
and researchers who have just started their careers. We feel privileged to showcase their work,
because they are conducting research without much academic support and are constantly
challenged by contextual constraints and limited resources. We believe that the Handbook has
created an opportunity to make the young researchers visible and their voices audible. We
also feel the need for ensuring the availability of research studies done on English language
education in the context of Bangladesh. On many occasions, we could not locate relevant
research while we were doing our own doctoral research. Our experiences of researching and
writing also indicated that only a few academics, researchers, and English language educators
in Bangladesh publish internationally; locally published research journals are also not available
online for academics and researchers located abroad; even when journal articles and books are
available in local journals, they are based on theoretical constructs and conceptual frameworks
from the 1980s and 1990s, which may not have relevance in 2020s; and finally, the research areas
are usually limited to methods and approaches in English language teaching. In other words,
involving the young Bangladeshi English language educators and researchers, we want to over-
come the existing limitations and challenges and generate academic discourses about locally
relevant and contextually appropriate English language teaching to ensure optimal learning
experiences for our students in Bangladesh.
xxxii
Prologue
Moreover, we feel that the changing status of the English language and the nature of English
language education in the local context need to be comprehensively presented, specifically
because of the initiative taken by the Government of Bangladesh to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and the vision of a Developed Nation by 2041. Keeping the
development agenda and the ambition of the government in mind and keeping in consideration
the increased globalisation, mobility, migration, labour market, and the global and local economy,
we also see the necessity of changing English language pedagogies and practices to identify the
factors that may ensure the supply of linguistically competent human resources in Bangladesh for
both local and global markets.
To put it in simple terms, we are aware that there is hardly any comprehensive book that covers
different facets of English language education in Bangladesh for stakeholders, such as policy
makers, language teachers, textbook writers and materials developers, academics, and researchers.
We consider the Handbook the first constructive effort to address all the possible dynamics of
English language education in Bangladesh, starting from English language education policies to
curriculum design, assessment to socio-economic dynamics of English language learning and
teaching.The Handbook is a complete reference book for English language educators, researchers,
and policy makers, specifically for those who have interests in the South Asian contexts. In add-
ition, the Handbook identifies the possible areas, which require our attention in terms of research
in future. The Routledge Handbook of English Language Education in Bangladesh thus gives a bird’s
eye view of English language education in Bangladesh and provides directions to areas that
require attention for further research in the future.
xxxiii
1
INTRODUCTION
English language and English language education
in the multilingual ecology of Bangladesh:
Past, present, and future
Introduction
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the
world with an estimated population of 164.6 million (till 1 July 2018) living in 147,570 sq. km.
It means that around 1116 people live in per sq. km (BBS, 2019). It is one of the developing
countries as well, with 21.8% of its population living below the poverty line (Asian Development
Bank, 2018). The adult literacy rate in Bangladesh is 73.9% in 2018 (BBS, 2019, p. xxxvii).
Despite the stark realities that exist in Bangladesh, that it is a densely populated third-world
country beset by problems of flood, famine, and poverty, Bangladesh is gradually developing itself
through its steady growth through sustainable development – initiated and supported by the
government of Bangladesh.
According to the World Economic Forum, the world is facing various challenges, including
poverty, inequality, unemployment, underemployment, and skills gaps, and it is important to reach
the UN’s declared Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Both the global and the government’s
main agenda is to achieve SDGs, ensuring poverty reduction, quality education, skills develop-
ment, and promoting economic growth. In order to achieve SDGs by 2030, in the meantime, the
government of Bangladesh has taken various visions (e.g. Vision 2021; 2041) and steps. One of
the important steps of the government is considering English as a means of development to fulfil
economic, societal, educational, and personal needs. However, English education in Bangladesh is
encountering challenges for language policies, language curriculums and syllabuses pedagogies,
materials, and assessment, which seem to be developed without considering the contextual real-
ities of Bangladesh. This Handbook on English language education (ELE) has addressed those
challenges and tensions and showed the future directions to policy makers, researchers, syllabus
designers, material developers, and educators.
The introductory chapter to the Handbook provides a critical reflection on the historical
development of ELE in Bangladesh. An overall view of ELE from the primary to the tertiary
level of education in Bangladesh is given too. Then a brief summary of the chapters is outlined
so that readers may navigate their ways through 25 chapters based on their areas of interests.
The sections in this chapter address the main themes covered in the Handbook, namely his-
tory, language-in-education policy and planning in Bangladesh, English language curriculum
reformation and pedagogical practices, assessment and testing in English language teaching
1
(ELT), teaching English with the aid of literature, language learning and construction of identity,
and teacher education and English for economic development.
ELE in Bangladesh
Historically, English has changed its status over the years to become a significant language of the
social landscape. Its presence can be explained with reference to three broad phases of the political
history of Bangladesh, starting with the introduction of ELE to the Indian subcontinent by the
British colonial empire. Historically, politically, and socially, English and Bangla have always occu-
pied different hierarchical positions in terms of usage, and these hierarchies have progressively
created a web of linguistic ideologies. The interrelationship between language and class has also
been sustained and nurtured by educational institutions and practices. In addition, these practices
have for centuries simultaneously created scope for resistance, transgression, and yearning for
freedom and independence, while at the same time reinforcing inequalities, hierarchies, and lin-
guistic, social, and cultural marginalisation. An understanding of these historical, political, social,
and ideological dynamics is significant for unravelling the ways in which ELE has been sustained
and taken different directions in the Indian subcontinent and later on in Bangladesh.
ELE in the Indian subcontinent (1835–1947)

Bangladesh, along with West Bengal, the province situated in eastern India, was historically a part
of the Indian subcontinent. For nearly 200 years, until 1947, it had a similar colonial history to
India under the British coloniser. During the reign of the East India Company for around 100
years till the earlier half of the 18th century, Bangla was one of the many languages in use in the
subcontinent; others were Arabic, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Sanskrit, and more (Clark, 1956).
During the latter half of the 18th century, when the British Government took over the man-
agement of the Indian subcontinent from the East India Company by passing the ‘Government
of India Act of 1858’, English began to replace Persian, the language of the Muslim ruler, in all
domains, including administration, law, and the courts. It clearly became the prestige variety
of language and a key to success for the professional middle class, who wanted to be a part of
the bureaucracy (T. Rahman, 1997). Moreover, the support of a group of local Indians, led by
Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who were in favour of English education for learning more about the
scientific and philosophical enlightenment of the West (Paranjape, 2013), made it easier for the
British imperialists to promote English in education and government. In the region, Clark (1956)
suggested that many of the upper class and probably the majority of the new middle class wanted
to learn English for utilitarian motives, such as access to a profitable career. Their incentive
grew stronger when Lord Bentinck opened more senior civil service posts to Indians. Therefore,
Mazumder [as cited in (A. Rahman, 2007, p. 70)] stated, “English education was introduced into
this country, not by the British government but in spite of them”.
Interestingly, even though English education was restricted to the privileged few, it historic-
ally instigated social mobility and introduced a new kind of social hierarchy and power play that
restructured class boundaries. There was a rise of bureaucratic and professional elites to positions
which previously had been occupied by landed gentry. “The professional middle class, espe-
cially the bureaucracy, increased, and the state became the biggest employer. This meant that the
language chosen by the state to run the bureaucracy was the key to power” (T. Rahman, 1997,
p. 146). Expensive English-medium schools were established, which had a lasting impact on the
socio-economic conditions within society. For example, the masses did not have access to chiefs’
colleges which were established in the early 19th century on the model of the elitist British
2
Introduction
public school system. The masses received their education in the vernacular, such as Bangla, in
government schools. The aristocrats sent their sons to chiefs’ colleges where they could “learn
the English language, and [become] sufficiently familiar with English customs” [Raleigh (1906)
as cited in T. Rahman (1997, p. 147)].
Only the sons of the princes of India were allowed admission to chiefs’ colleges, whereas the
sons of the professional middle class went to European or convent schools, which excluded most
Indians based on birth or poverty (Clark, 1956). The cost per student to attend Anglo-Indian
and European institutions was Rs. 156, while all types of institutions from a university to a pri-
mary school were only Rs. 14 [Education in India, 1941 as cited in. T. Rahman (1997)]. The
vernacular Bangla gradually became the only language of government primary education, the
Indian press, and the lower branches of official administration (Clark, 1956). Eventually, these
two types of education gave rise to class-based hierarchies in the society: the anglicised elite, who
were educated in English-medium institutions and held the powerful positions in the bureau-
cracy, and a class of people educated in the vernacular language, who aspired to and obtained
subordinate positions in the lower bureaucracy.
The hegemonic role of English, sustained and nurtured by the vested interests of a class of
people, had not been accepted without struggle, contestation, and conflict. Out of this segrega-
tion, for example, rose the anti-English lobby – the masses educated in the vernacular, who were
considered appropriate for subordinate positions in the bureaucracy, while the powerful positions
were reserved for Englishmen and elite English-educated Indians. Both the British monarch and
the English language were officially displaced in 1947. Uprooting English overnight was, how-
ever, an ambitious plan when a segment of the society had been nurtured by the ethos of the
British imperialist, driven by the utilitarian motives and ambitions of the collaborators in coloni-
alism and by the presence of a new type of citizen who “saw his future only in the study of the
English language and in the slavish imitation of Western manners” and pretended “that English
was his own language” (Clark, 1956, p. 474). English was meant to prevail for generations even
in the post-imperialist era.
ELE during the Pakistani period (1947–1971)

Strong resistance against and repulsion for the British ruler led to none of the countries in the
Indian subcontinent – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or Nepal – selecting the English language
as its national language, although English remained a de facto official language in the domains
of administration, legal profession, and higher education. This was inevitable because political
leaders and high officials were educated in English (Banu & Sussex, 2001a; Musa, 1989, 1995). It
was also significantly important for the communication of the two wings of Pakistan – the East
and the West, which had no common language other than English for administrative purposes.
Note that Pakistan with its two parts, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan, was
linguistically and culturally different, but was separated from the Indian subcontinent in 1947 on
the basis of the dominant religion of those regions, Islam. There were also 1200 miles of Indian
territory between the two parts.
The independence from the British monarch eventually proved to be significant for
Bangladesh.The social and cultural significance of Bangla and the birth of Bangladesh are closely
tied to the political events that took place during the Pakistani era. The political leaders, par-
ticularly Muhammad Ali Jinnah in West Pakistan, ignoring the fact that Bangla was spoken by
56.4% of the entire Pakistani population, announced on 21 March 1948 that Urdu, which was
spoken by the dominant group in West Pakistan who represented only 3.27% of the population,
would be the only official language (Maron, 1955). The ‘one state one official language model’
3
was a new form of linguistic colonisation for the East Pakistanis, that is, Bangladeshis. The newly
established Pakistan again started to splinter because of language. In fact, Bangla became the
steering force for a political, historical, social, and cultural movement that united Bangladeshis to
resist linguistic and political marginalisation by West Pakistan (Musa, 1996).
An attempt by the central government to enforce Urdu (the mother tongue of the West
Pakistanis) as the official language and give preference to West Pakistan and West Pakistanis in
the allocation of national revenues, development projects, and government posts violated the
rights of East Pakistanis. The state-language controversies made the East Pakistanis realise that
the privileged position of the British and the upper class Hindus had been occupied by the
West Pakistanis. The West Pakistanis were the “non-Bengali imperial guardian” (Maron, 1955,
p. 133), enjoying an upper status nationally, socially, culturally, and linguistically. It was another
long-term process to relegate East Pakistanis to inferior status: East Pakistanis or Bangladeshis
would be handicapped in competitive examinations and consequently would not be able to hold
important positions in the bureaucracy. It was also a way of subordinating the majority by the
minority (Maron, 1955).
This issue of language controversy started a language movement, as a result of which several
students and citizens were killed by the police on 21 February 1952. Because of this nation-
wide movement and loss of life, West Pakistan had to give due recognition to Bangla. Bangla
was declared as a provincial language in the first constitution of Pakistan on 23 March 1956.
The events left a deep scar on the relationship between the two provinces. The nations were
eventually divided in 1971. Bangla, a significant marker of Bangladeshi identity since 1952, was
revalidated in the Liberation War of 1971 and eventually led Bangladesh to independence from
Pakistan (Musa, 1989, 1995). Bangla, which had been politically and socially afforded lower
status than English during the imperial era, and again in relation to English and Urdu during the
Pakistani era, for the first time achieved status as a politically and historically significant language
in the independent Bangladesh.
ELE in the independent Bangladesh (1971 to date)

The People’s Republic of Bangladesh emerged as an independent country in 1971. As one of
the causes of the breach between West and East Pakistan was the legitimisation of the Bangla
language and Bangladeshi nationalism, Bangla inevitably became the national language, as well as
the official language – a symbol of national identity and freedom from oppression, exploitation,
and subjugation (Musa, 1996). Klaiman [1987 as cited in Banu (2005)] identified that Bengali
identity is neither genetic nor religious. The name of the country, Bangladesh, is made of Bangla
and desha. Bangla refers to the language, not the people or the territory of Bengal, and desha
means ‘country’. With the new fervour of nationality, English was displaced, along with Urdu.
Even though the bureaucrats were more comfortable using English for administrative purposes,
Bangla was constantly favoured by nationalist leaders and ministers. The “anomalous linguistic
situation” arose because the key leaders were grassroot politicians with rural backgrounds (Banu
& Sussex, 2001b, p. 126).
While the decision to determine the national language reflected the collective emotion
about Bangla in the newly independent country, the centralistic, government-induced, and
government-controlled decision to promote Bangla gave rise to two distinct streams of
education, English and Bangla, which eventually led to a divide between ‘haves’ and ‘have-
nots’, as had been observable in the British era. The statal and suprastatal rules prescribed
Bangla as the only official language, without providing adequate instruction on how to
phase out the use of English from other domains of life; for example, the practical hurdle of
4
Introduction
the non-availability of Bangla textbooks for higher education was not addressed (Choudhury,
2001). Overall, the emphasis on Bangla meant that people’s long history of experience with
English was ignored. As a consequence, despite being instructed to switch to Bangla, English-
medium schools kept the English-medium education system active through the patronage of
the elite (Banu & Sussex, 2001b). English remained in two forms in the education system: as
a content-based subject for the majority in government schools and as a medium of instruc-
tion (MOI) and means to dynamic education for the elite minority in private English-medium
schools (Imam, 2005; A. Rahman, 2007; S. Rahman, 2009; Sultana, 2003). The education system
now resembles that of the former imperialist period when elite children went to private schools
and the masses went to the vernacular public schools.
The nationalistic orientation in education policy was later revised to redeem English language
learning and teaching, considering the necessity of English as a language of development, only to
encourage yet another form of extremism. In 1992, English was made a compulsory subject in
primary and higher secondary education from years 1 to 12, and subsequently for the first-year
undergraduate students in the tertiary education in Bangladesh (Hamid, Jahan, & Islam, 2013).
Since the government struggles to maintain a balance between nationalistic and developmental
discourses, English education in Bangladesh presumably experiences the conflicts and tensions
that accompany ideological instability.
English in the education system in Bangladesh

The public primary, secondary, and higher secondary education system in Bangladesh, considered
to be one of the largest centralised systems in the world (Imam, 2005), struggles to provide a
decent education to a huge number of students with a limited budget. Because of the inadequate
number of teachers, classes are not held regularly, and the number of classes is few and alarmingly
low. Years 1 and 2 students complete only 444 hours of classes per year in total (Imam, 2005).
The standard of education in public schools is also unsatisfactory. On average, 28% and 44%
of students achieved the minimum level of competence in written Bangla and Mathematics,
respectively, after five years of basic education (World Bank, 2000). The standard of English edu-
cation in Bangla-medium schools has also been in decline.
By contrast, the English-medium schools and colleges carry the ethos and heritage of elite
English private schools established during the British rule. Only a privileged few of the student
population attend these schools (Hossain & Tollefson, 2007). These schools have high tuition
fees; hence, only rich parents can afford them; for example, the monthly fee for a public school
in Dhaka is only around Taka 250 (approximately US $2.95), whereas the fee in an English-
medium school can range from Taka 3,000 to 18,000 (approximately US $35.5–213) per month,
according to the age of the student. Most of the schools have highly proficient qualified teachers,
some of whom are native speakers of English.The schools are located in expensive areas and pro-
vide all the amenities necessary for effective teaching and learning. They follow the curriculum
and syllabuses developed by the Cambridge International Examination Board (an examination
board in the United Kingdom), and the exams (‘O’ level and ‘A’ level) are administered by the
British Council in Bangladesh. The scripts are marked by registered examiners in the United
Kingdom, and the textbooks for all courses except Bangla and religious studies are published in
the United Kingdom (Hossain & Tollefson, 2007; Imam, 2005).
It is not only the medium of education that has made these two kinds of schools and colleges
different. The standard of education, materials taught in class, methods of teaching, number of
trained teachers, number of classes held, amount of learning and teaching resources, and the
overall ambience between these two kinds of education system in general are starkly different.
5
In most of the Bangla-medium schools, knowledge is dealt with as a “monolithic entity, a finite,
inflexible object, to be accepted whole and to be memorised and regurgitated” (A. Rahman,
1999, p. 241). Classroom practices, particularly in rural and sub-urban contexts, resemble the
‘banking concept of education’ (Sultana, 2003), which, according to Freire (1970, p. 36) is an
“instrument of dehumanisation”. In fact, this sort of teaching and learning practice seems to be
a logical consequence of the disparity between the financial conditions of the respective educa-
tional institutions. The stark differences between the two education systems have given rise to
two classes of people, as in the imperialist period. Similar to Asia Pacific countries such as China,
Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam, English as a medium of education has created
division and discrimination between the “haves and have-nots and city and rural area dwellers”
(Nunan, 2003, p. 605). Thus, institutional affiliation becomes complex for students as the affili-
ation implicitly reflects their socio-economic background (Sultana, 2014, 2018).
As English education is not accessible to the poor and the rural, people believe in the super-
iority of the English-speaking population (cf. Ramanathan, 2005 on the vernacular and English
divide in India). People in general seem to have positive attitudes towards English and English-
speaking Bangladeshis (Sultana, 2016). The English-speaking population is small, as in Japan
(Kubota, 1998), but it enjoys supreme prestige and status in the society. Thus “functioning in
the manner of a huge classificatory machine” (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990, p. xi), the education
system also eventually divides students and inscribes identity attributes based on institutional
affiliation and education practices on the micro level. Bourdieu and Passeron (1990) stated, with
reference to reproduction in education, society, and culture, that “the school helps to make and to
impose the legitimate exclusions and inclusions which form the basis of the social order” (p. xi)
in societies which claim to recognise individuals only as equals in right, the education
system and its modern nobility only contribute to disguise, and thus legitimize, in a
more subtle way the arbitrariness of the distribution of powers and privileges which
perpetuates itself through the socially uneven allocation of school titles and degrees (p. x).
Moreover, according to Bourdieu and Passeron (1990, p. xi), the elite schools ensure “the per-
petuation and legitimation of social hierarchies”. Thus, the education system guarantees better
positioning in the society for those who have received English education, even when Bangla is
given respect as a national language for its crucial historical, political, and cultural roles in the
independence of Bangladesh.
The linguistic scenario has become increasingly multifaceted in Bangladesh with the recent
popularity and currency of English as a global language and its instrumental value in the job
market. Private companies prefer to employ university graduates with a higher level of pro-
ficiency in English, thereby legitimising the mythical values of English. Even people in rural
villages want their children to be proficient in English (Erling, Seargeant, Solly, Chowdhury,
& Rahman, 2012). Parents and private universities have started putting emphasis on English
to prepare students for the job market, and it has been easier for the private universities to opt
solely for English as the medium of education because of the absence of an explicit education
policy for higher education. In addition, unlike public universities, these universities do not have
historical, political, and social commitments towards nationalism. As Hamid et al. (2013, p. 151)
have noted,
MOI [Medium of Instruction] denotes a divide between public and private sector
higher education. Being controlled by macro-level policies, the former is underpinned
by linguistic nationalism, protectionism and additive bilingualism, while the latter is
6
Introduction
informed by linguistic instrumentalism … the public-private divide marked by lin-

guistic dualism – English only in the private sector and Bangla + English in the public
sector.
Hence, ELE in Bangladesh occupies a precarious position in the Bangladeshi society deeply
affected by its historical, political, social, cultural, and contextual realities. The Handbook tends to
unravel some of the complexities in order to identify an effective future direction for ensuring
linguistic equity and social justice through ELE in Bangladesh.
English in the multilingual ecology of Bangladesh

The political, historical, and social and cultural significance of ELE in Bangladesh indicates that
it is either the language of ‘linguistic imperialism’, ‘linguistic hegemony’, and inequality; or the
symbol of social status, class, and education and hence a language of ‘pride’; or the language
of globalisation, internationalisation, and commodification, and consequently, the language of
‘profit’. This framing of English, however, is problematic since the polarised approach gives a
partial view of the language at the macro level or the grassroots level in Bangladesh. This does
not allow a critical understanding of English with reference to national and official languages
or individual and collective engagement with all the languages or the learning and teaching
contexts that exist in the multilingual ecology of Bangladesh. These dichotomous roles and their
consequences for ELE are dealt with in the Handbook.
Section 1 History, Language-in-Education Policy and Planning in Bangladesh, contains a total of
three chapters. These chapters identify the tension created because of the conflicting ideolo-
gies promoted and sustained in the name of colonisation, nationalism, and globalisation. These
chapters also explain how a bi-/multilingual language-in-education planning can be a balancing
act and hence can ensure a peaceful co-existence of languages and nurture multilingual ecology
in Bangladesh.
In Chapter 2, Shakila Nur, Megan Short, and Greg Ashman explore the complex nexus of
history and policy of ELE in Bangladesh, by critically reviewing the historical, political, socio-
cultural, and ideological factors that influence English Language Education Policy (ELEP)
development process in Bangladesh. They argue that in ELEP development process, there is a
series of influences where colonisation, nationalism, and globalisation have played a central role.
They identify the unsatisfactory and, in some cases, unplanned extent of policy implementation
initiatives as the main cause for the overall dismal outcomes of ELE. Reconsidering the provision
of ELE, culture of English language teaching and learning, and support for ELT professionals, a
more context-driven, rational, synchronised, and holistic approach to ELE policy development
process has been suggested at the end of the chapter.
In Chapter 3, identifying the national language-in-education planning as a thorny matter
from the perspective of emotional attachment interface of growing popularity of English in
Bangladesh, Tania Rahman’s chapter proposes a sequentially bi-/multilingual framework inte-
grating education in the country’s national language Bangla and the international language
English. She considers languages as having instrumental value besides strong nationalistic senti-
mental attachments. Such orientation makes room for considering the potentials of languages
in national resource management that may contribute to economic development and national/
ethnic identity maintenance.
While the above-mentioned chapters give a general picture of ELE policy and planning in
Bangladesh, A. M. M. H. Rahman’s Chapter 4 critically analyses the history of ELT in Bangladesh
from the British period to the present time and discusses how ELT methods and materials have
7
been influenced by various socio-political situations and pedagogical approaches and have been
eventually changed. The chapter provides future directions for ELT in the country.
English language ‘curriculum reformation,’ pedagogical

practices, assessment, and testing
While Section 1 indicates the history and politics behind the uniform and unilinear process of
ELE policies from the top and/or the West, Sections 2 and 3 take interest in English education
as taken, realised, and experienced at the bottom, when preferences and choices are made by
teachers, students, and examiners themselves in their day-to-day lives, based on their social, eco-
nomic, and contextual realities. Specific languages and specific learning and teaching methods
and approaches and testing and assessment systems may be forced down by the colonisers/elite
segments of the society/the policy makers, but choices of using these specific languages and
testing and assessment systems are not simple, unidirectional, or unidimensional. The chapters
in Sections 2 and 3 present how the success and failure of different curriculums, syllabuses, and
testing systems initiated by the government in support of international donor agencies depend
on the contextual realities and multilingual ecology of the Bangladeshi society.
Section 2 titled English Language Curriculum Reformation and Pedagogical Practice comprises
three chapters. In Chapter 5, Rizwan-ul Huq aims to understand how the mundane language
practices – in the presence of an institution-specific, de facto English-only policy – take place in
a school during teaching activities. He identifies that the compliance of the given policy (i.e. the
interactional patterns of conforming or yielding) is achieved through three types of approaches,
that is, compliant, semi-compliant, and minimal-compliant modes. The chapter thus indicates
how an English classroom operates within the policy expectations and their influences on col-
lective interactional patterns.
While Chapter 5 presents a microanalysis of teacher–student interaction in an institutional
policy-governed setting and unravels its impact on interactional patterns, Chapter 6 deals with the
role of input in teaching grammar. Even though a communicative approach to language teaching
is encouraged in the English language curriculum, both teachers and students in Bangladesh
mostly rely on the traditional rule-based English grammar books for achieving competence in
the target language (TL) grammar. In Chapter 6, Akhter Jahan and Subramaniam Govindasamy
assume that in such classroom context, Textual Enhancement of input may serve as an effective
teaching technique for drawing students’ attention to any targeted forms by increasing the per-
ceptual salience of those features in written input through typographical manipulations. They
argue that contextualised exposure to the target forms will enable learners to grasp grammatical
forms for use in any type of communication both spoken and written. Moreover, protracted
support will enable acquisition of the TL and subsequently develop communicative competence,
which is an indelible aim of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach.
It is a hard reality that classroom practitioners usually do not participate in research and
academic activities, such as writing research papers or attending conferences and seminars at
home and abroad. In Chapter 7, Md. Golam and Kazi Mafizur Rahman advocate for promoting
Research Informed Teaching practice in Academic English (AE) programmes at Bangladeshi
universities. Adopting a mixed-method approach, they identify four areas to consider for
implementing research-based AE education.They suggest rethinking the wider educational goals
of AE programmes, enhancing teachers’ personal research capacity, ensuring research support
mechanisms within universities, and embedding applied features in AE learning and teaching.
Chapters 6 and 7 thus explore whether language teaching practices already successful in the
Western world may be introduced in the context of Bangladesh. In principle, we are sceptical
8
Introduction
and may not agree to importing teaching techniques from the Western world, but we also are
respectful to suggestions from the young Bangladeshi scholars and look forward to seeing the
changes they may bring to ELE practices in Bangladesh by their innovative approaches and
methods.
An important dynamic of curriculum is assessment and testing. In Section 3 titled Assessment
and Testing in ELT, a total of three chapters are included. Assessment is a vital issue in the
secondary and higher secondary teaching–learning processes. Highlighting the gaps in the
current testing system, in Chapter 8, Rubina Khan provides an overview of the secondary
and higher secondary assessment scenario in Bangladesh and examines washback effects of
the two major public examinations, that is Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher
Secondary School Certificate (HSC) examinations. She also identifies the harmful impact of
these high-stake examinations. In addition, she shows that test items given in the exam are
too easy and, consequently, the items fail to discriminate between students with higher and
average abilities.
While Chapter 8 identifies the limitations of test items in the SSC and HSC English language
exams, Sabrin Farooqui, in Chapter 9 with a catchy title, investigates how and to what extent the
SSC examination influences teachers’ use of the new English language textbook. She identifies
that teachers do not use the textbook in the way it is expected to be used because of students and
their preoccupation with testing and obsession with ensuring higher grades in exams.
Chapter 9 leads to Chapter 10 in which Md. Zulfeqar Haider, Robiul Kabir Chowdhury, and
Jack B. Holbrook report the findings of a research study that examines the quality of test items
and the way these items are marked in the SSC English examinations. The chapter reveals that
some alarming features of the SSC English Paper I examination paper that question the overall
validity and reliability of such test. The questions are also too easy and, thus, fail to discriminate
between students with higher and average abilities.
Sections 2 and 3, thus, complement each other, showing that the current practices of deter-
mining students’ abilities through their performance in the final year examinations do not reflect
the expectations set out in the language policies, communicative curriculum, and testing and
assessment processes.
Teaching English language versus literature

Section 4 includes four chapters on the theme, titled Teaching English Language versus Literature.
Shamsad Mortuza, in Chapter 11, explores the various issues related to language, literature, and
ideology that have contributed to the reshaping of English departments in the Bangladesh ter-
tiary education. He expresses his concern about the future of English studies in Bangladesh and
recommends making policy with a holistic approach instead of solely relying on the decisions of
either the donors or the myopic policy makers.
In Chapter 12, Mashrur Hossain takes into account the problems and potential of the use of
Anglophone literatures in Bangladeshi English language classroom. Suggesting that literature is
engaging and instrumental in enriching students’ language skills, communication skills, critical
thinking skills, performance skills, and management skills, he offers a guideline for an effective
use of literature in teaching – learning seven skills in a language classroom and outlines critical –
affective pedagogy, which intends to develop both sensitivity and critical awareness in students.
In Chapter 13, addressing the pros and cons of using literature in language teaching in a
communicative manner, Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir critically examines English for Today (EfT)
textbooks designed by National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) for Classes XI–XII
and Alim. He argues that EfT, specifically, fails to include relevant theoretical implications from
9
the field of Applied Linguistics. Four components of CLT framework have not been followed
in writing EfT. A balanced approach towards ‘conventional schemata’ and ‘literary schemata’ is
not found either. He underscores the importance of ‘cautious’ and ‘judicious’ selection of literary
contents according to the contextual factors, and skilful creation of tasks and activities.
In Chapter 14, Asif Kamal gives more specific examples of tasks for integrating English litera-
ture into language classes. He also examines whether adapting Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL) lessons is effective for developing students’ literary cognition and enhancing
English language skills simultaneously. He identifies that CLIL lessons help improve students’
knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure as well as the knowledge of literary
content in undergraduate English literature classes, but these lessons may not be effective for
students with better competence in the English language. Therefore, he suggests following a
need-based application of CLIL in literature classes.
Section 4 thus deals with how literature needs to be judiciously introduced in English lan-
guage textbooks at the secondary and higher secondary levels of education as well as in any
language classroom in Bangladesh. This section also suggests ways to use literature effectively in
order to enrich students’ language skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, perform-
ance skills, and management skills.
English language learning and construction of identity

Section 5 Language Learning and Construction of Identity is relatively bulky in volume and includes
seven chapters. The chapters empirically show the pervasive role of English in the society and its
impact on students’ and teachers’ negotiation of identity and their locatedness in society. These
chapters also problematise the ironical role of English, identifying how it affects students’ and
teachers’ participation in classroom activities and negotiation of identity.
Utilising the construct of language ideology and the concepts of ‘capital’ and ‘habitus’, in
Chapter 15, Iffat Jahan examines the connections between language and identity with reference
to the notion of social class in the discursive domains of news and social media. Based on crit-
ical discourse analysis of media and social media data, she demonstrates that Bangla and English
in the form of MOI may be a factor in the representation of self and other. The study suggests
that MOI/language divides in post-colonial Bangladesh reflect the social divide based on power,
‘capital’, and ‘habitus’.
While Chapter 15 looks into the discursive construction of identity in media and social media
data, in Chapter 16, Shaila Sultana explores how university students in Bangladesh use two popu-
larly known words – the Bangla word ‘khaet’ (hick) and the English word ‘fast’ – to construct
a discursive sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ based on Bangla- and English-medium education and pos-
ition themselves in their educational landscape. She observes that individual interpretation and
use of ‘khaet’ and ‘fast’ are intricately intertwined not only with their educational background,
but also with the historical, political, and ideological roles of English in society and students’
individual life trajectories, which are again influenced by their socio-economic and geographical
backgrounds.
In Chapter 17, with reference to the Weberian view of socio-economic class identity as a
conceptual framework, Saima Akhter looks into the relationship between ‘linguistic capital’ and
individual socio-economic identity. In the context of Bangladesh, English pronunciation plays
a significant role in performing upper class identity and ensuring privileged position in society.
At the end, the chapter concludes that young adults’ English pronunciation and socio-economic
class identity are entangled with other social and psychological variables, such as their academic
and regional affinity, fear of alienation, and then desire to move upward.
10
Introduction
In Chapter 18, Mahmud Khan and Shaila Sultana explore the critical reflections of MA in ELT
students about the status of English as a global language and English as an MOI in their classes at
a private university in Bangladesh. They indicate that the symbolic valorisation of English makes
language-based discrimination acceptable both to students and to teachers in the university. The
university is the site of social and cultural reproduction and both students and teachers, and
the university authority perpetuate and effectuate the social, political, and ideological relations.
In addition, they identify the English language as a significant hinder to students’ involvement
in and engagement with ‘meaningful’ learning experiences. At the end, they suggest allowing
students’ access to bilingual education both in English and in Bangla, so that these students may
own and contribute to the locally generated knowledge and eventually become endowed with
critical and intellectual bent of mind.
Chapters 15–18 deal with students’ language practices and their identity at the micro level. By
contrast, Chapter 19 analyses ELT materials. In her chapter, Afroza Suchana investigates gender
equity in an English language textbook at the primary level of education in Bangladesh and iden-
tifies the presence of gender discrimination in language, images, and illustrations. Consequently,
she exposes the unfair and oppressive state of social and economic relationships introduced to
school students at a young age.
In Chapter 20, Kakoli Chowdhury and M. Moninoor Roshid explore how government
college English language teachers in Bangladesh negotiate their professional identity construc-
tion and how that constructed identity influences their professional behaviour and performance.
The chapter shows that identity construction process of English teachers in government colleges
in Bangladesh is quite complex and problematic and it affects their quality of performances as
English language teachers.
Chapter 21, from an auto-ethnographic perspective, provides a critical reflection on English
and ELT in Bangladesh. Obaidul Hamid, based on his own life experiences in relation to English,
reflects on the interrelations of English, mobility, identity, and belonging within and beyond
national boundaries in a fluid world. His life trajectory, in fact, tells the tale of a ‘musafir’ as he calls
himself and epitomises the desires and tensions between mobility and stability, home and home-
lessness, belonging and lack of belonging, and visibility and invisibility experienced and realised
by a post-colonial being in the context of Bangladesh.
In these chapters, we thus get a detailed picture of how students, teachers, and different
stakeholders in the society engage with English within their spatial and temporal realities. Hence,
we develop the political, historical, epistemological, spatial, social, and textual understanding of
English in the multilingual eco-system and the material, discursive, and ideological processes that
influence their use of English. The section, most importantly, critically unravels the long-run
effects of the government’s stern effort of decolonisation.
English teacher education and English for economic development

Another polarised and yet hugely popular representation of English is that English is the lan-
guage of science and technology, globalisation, modernisation, internationalisation, and
transnationalisation. From this perspective and contrary to the linguistic imperialism viewpoint
discussed above, the English language is not considered as a threat to local languages, but a means
to sustainable development in Bangladesh. English is the language of ‘pride’ or the language of
globalisation, internationalisation, and commodification, and consequently, a language of ‘profit’
(Tollefson, 2000).
Section 6 focuses on Teacher Education and English for Economic Development. This section
contains six chapters. Chapter 22 by Arifa Rahman presents a comparative analysis of three
11
English Language Teachers Associations in South Asia, specifically in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and
Nepal.The chapter identifies the differences in the contextual realities and compositions of these
associations and reviews the products and services these associations offer to their stakeholders.
It also considers how diverse factors impact on the robustness and vitality of these products and
services and highlights the ways in which the associations address challenges and progress.
In Chapter 23, Anwar Ahmed describes how a curriculum of English language teacher
education in Bangladesh may develop them as transformative practitioners. He provides
an outline of English Language Teacher Education curriculum in Bangladesh and suggests
a re-conceptualisation of the curriculum in order to prepare English language teachers
as transformative practitioners. He engaged in an autoethnographic reflective inquiry and
explored how Morgan’s critical work might be helpful to design and implement curriculum
as a vehicle for democratic and justice-oriented language education. He suggests that pre-
service teacher education programmes need to focus specifically on identity, community,
and social justice.
In Chapter 24, Maksudul Ali and Obaidul Hamid argue that English for human capital devel-
opment has emerged as an ELE policy trend in developing societies in the context of globalisa-
tion. In this backdrop, the analysis of chapter reveals that development of citizens’ communicative
competence in English is considered critical for the country’s access to the globalised market and
for a competitive edge in the neoliberal economy.
With reference to the framework of business English as a lingua franca, in Chapter 25,
M. Moninoor Roshid explores the linguistic competence and its forms needed for effective
communication in ready-made garments (RMG) global business. The chapter shows that in
RMG global business, clear mutual intelligibility is more important than standard English usage
in terms of grammar and pronunciation. In addition, a sound knowledge and skills in using
appropriate garment-specific lexis along with general vocabulary are considered as one of the
key factors for effective communication.
Interface of economic development discourse, drawing findings from two qualitative research
projects in Bangladesh – one on local people’s attitudes towards English as a development tool
and another one on Bangladeshi returnee migrant workers – in Chapter 26 Qumrul Chowdhury
and Elizabeth J. Erling critically discuss the nexus between the local ideologies of English and
economic development in the context of Bangladesh.They argue that people in rural Bangladeshi
communities have strong ideologies of English as a language of economic development. Learning
English develops local people’s ability to give them access to local and global economic participa-
tion. The chapter also identify the structural inequality due to determining influence of English.
At the same time, they argue that learning English facilitates the local people to break structural
challenges and global inequality.
However, the chapters in Section 6 also identify that it will be wrong to ignore the role of
locality in mobilising globalisation and side-track the complexities of experiences of students,
teachers, migrant workers, and business associates in relation to English, even though the
experiences may vary based on their socio-economic background and geographical locations.
There is a necessity of understanding how “the powerless postcolonial communities may find
ways to negotiate, alter, and oppose political structures, and reconstruct their languages, cultures,
and identities to their advantage” (Canagarajah, 1999, p. 2). English no longer belongs to the
colonisers or to the superpowers. It is a ‘heteroglossic language’ owned by Bangladeshi teachers,
students, and migrant workers. The chapters in Section 6 in the Handbook show in what ways
English is taken up at the grassroots level and used as a tool of financial development beyond the
boundaries of classrooms.
12
Introduction
Conclusion
The Handbook, in general, presents a detailed picture of the overall ELE, as it is practised ‘endogen-
ously’ in Bangladesh through theoretically comprehensive and globally understood terms. It
sheds light on the historical development, shifting paradigms and practices, and presents con-
dition of ELE in Bangladesh, bringing out critical perspectives on ELE and colonial and post-
colonial history, ideologies, and values in terms of the English language policy and the rapid
development of the ELE industry in Bangladesh.The Handbook also deals with issues at the micro
level, such as English language textbooks, English curriculum, assessment and evaluation, peda-
gogies, use of literature for ELT, MOI and negotiation of identity, teachers’ professional devel-
opment, graduate employability, and sustainable development. Presenting descriptive, theoretical,
and empirical chapters as well as ethnographic and case studies, this Handbook, on the one hand,
gives a comprehensive view of English language teaching and learning scenario in Bangladesh
and, on the other hand, comes up with suggestions for possible decolonisation and deeliticisation
of English in Bangladesh.
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14
PART I
History, language-in-education policy,

and planning in Bangladesh
2
FROM THE INFRASTRUCTURE
TO THE BIG PICTURE
A critical reading of English language education
policy and planning in Bangladesh
Introduction
The main reason that change fails to occur in the first place on any scale, and does not
get sustained when it does, is that the infrastructure is weak, unhelpful, or working
at cross purposes……. More and more people must address “the big picture”…The
agenda for the next decade is to “transform the system” by improving the overall infra-
structure in a way that reinforces and extends….and helps to cause local development
in others.
(Fullan, 2005, p. 12)
Following Fullan, while the term ‘infrastructure’ used in this chapter refers to the macro-level
influences and ideologies (in the wider context) that facilitate, incentivise, or hinder (inadvertently)
policy reform and development (the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of policy development), the notion of ‘big
picture’ demonstrates the capacities of agencies as well as the extent and impacts of implementations
(the ‘how’ of and ‘what of ’ policy development both at the individual and collective setting).
Similar to the correlation between ‘infrastructure’ and ‘big picture’, ‘history’ and ‘policy’ is also
interpretive, intriguing and perpetually uneasy. More explicitly, while ‘policy’ is encumbered by
socio-political and historical context, ‘history’, that is, past events and influences, cannot be seen as
irrelevant in the formation of the present policy.Therefore, in the process of accomplishing a com-
prehensive understanding of education policy process, it is necessary to contend with the complex
and rich equations between ‘history’, ‘policy infrastructure’, and ‘big picture’.
Taking English language education policy (ELEP) in Bangladesh as the case, this chapter was
prompted by the authors’ understanding that while education system in any polity, including
Bangladesh, faces pressures to deliver high-quality education, policy makers may not necessarily
grant much attention to what Bowe, Ball, and Gold (1992) termed as the ‘context of policy
influences’ but relentlessly borrow and reform policies and set forth their implementation. The
policy makers may tend to forget that effective education policy implementation is a complex,
evolving process, which might offer unsatisfactory and conflicting results if the policy influences
are not properly and thoughtfully attended to and addressed. It is, therefore, crucial to develop a
clear understanding of the ‘context of policy influences’ (the ‘infrastructure’) so that the founda-
tion of the future ‘big picture’ of education policy could be strengthened.
17
Revisiting and evaluating critically the history of English language (EL) and ELEP in
Bangladesh and the policy outcomes, this chapter intends to combine ‘history’ and ‘policy’ – on
the one hand, the chapter provides a comprehensive view of the ‘infrastructure’ of English lan-
guage education (ELE) by conceptualising the main threads and various issues of the context of
policy influences and on the other hand, it critically reflects on the prevailing ELEP in order to
develop a wholesome understanding of the ‘big picture’ of ELE in Bangladesh. Therefore, the
discussion in this descriptive yet critical chapter is not more than offering a modest attempt to
pursue and clarify two broad questions:
• What are the historical, political, socio-cultural, and ideological factors that influence ELEP
process in Bangladesh?
• What might the big picture of ELE in Bangladesh be like as a consequence of the policy
infrastructure?
The first question has been addressed by describing how different historical, political, socio-
cultural, and ideological factors at supra-national, sub-national, and national levels influenced
and shaped ELEP process in Bangladesh. Then the ‘big picture’ of ELE in Bangladesh has been
explored by evaluating the main threads of impacts leveraged by the infrastructure. The key issues
subsumed under the two questions lead to the concluding section, which argues for reconsidering
and reassessing the upshots of the policies as well as the socio-political and economic context of the
present Bangladesh so that the benefits of ELE could be reaped and maximised in the longer term.
Theoretical underpinning
Recalling the ideology that policy decisions are influenced, mediated, and constructed by a
wide range of formal and/or informal influences ranging from supra-national to local socio-
politico-economic contexts, the chapter is primarily premised upon the notion of ‘context of
policy influence’, the first facet of Bowe et al.’s (1992) policy trajectory model. This heuristic
framework, following a cyclic approach (see Figure 2.1), treats education policy as an ongoing,
interactive, and interrelated process.
The framework, as Figure 2.1 illustrates, is a non-linear, bi-directional one, operating between
the three contexts of policy: context of policy influence, context of policy text, and context of
Figure 2.1 Policy trajectory framework (Bowe et al., 1992)
18
English language education policy and planning
policy practice. Emphasis on this two-way interaction provides possible avenues for each context
to exchange feedback to and from each other. This reciprocity, the essence of the framework,
addresses the complex dialectics between ‘the global’, ‘the national’, and ‘the local’ levels, as the
‘heuristic glo-na-cal agency’ (Marginson & Rhoades, 2002) and henceforth corroborates the
foregrounding of policy outcomes – the ‘big picture’ (Vidovich, 2007).
The context of policy influence is a site for articulating policy infrastructure by considering
the ideologies and key influences of global, national, and local agencies (Bowe et al., 1992).
Conceptualising the notion of influences on developing ELEP in any polity, thus, indicates how
socio-politico-economic factors at the macro level serve as primary motivation in devising the
context of policy text as well as influencing the extent of policy implementation.
Within the above framework, the theoretical underpinning of the chapter is also complemented
by the scholarly works of Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin (1989); Pennycook (2017); Phillipson
(1992, 1996); and Rizvi (2007).The ‘context of influence’, by offering its ‘toolbox’, thus, facilitates
the way of exploring the infrastructure of ELEP in Bangladesh more broadly at supra-national,
sub-national, and local level, which later was conceptualised by Chua and Baldauf (2011) as the
framework of contexts and levels of language policy planning. By taking a critical look at ELEPs
developed in different times in Bangladesh, the conceptualisation also develops an understanding
of the complexity inspired by the policy influences as well as how this complexity influences and
shapes the big picture, that is, the local context of ELEP and practice.
Context of policy influence: The infrastructure of ELEP in Bangladesh

The infrastructure of ELEP in Bangladesh is a clear demonstration of conflicts of interests
and ideologies (Figure 2.2). To be more explicit, the permutation and combination of three
major dynamics informs the context of policy influence – colonialism, nationalism, and glo-
balisation and nation development motives – implicating accordingly a series of imposition,
Figure 2.2 The infrastructure of ELEP in Bangladesh
19
rigidity, instability, transition, and promotion regarding ELE in Bangladesh (spanning from the
colonial period to till date).
Influences of colonialism (1757–1971): Transplantation

of EL in education policy
The discourse of infrastructure of ELEP in Bangladesh originates from the discourse of supra-national
politics of colonialism regarding EL and ELE in Bangladesh (a part of the then Indian subcontinent).
That is, EL and ELE were implanted in the territory as direct implications of accomplishing the bigger
political mission along with cultural and economic interests of the British colonisers. A key moment
here is that Orientalism was replaced by Anglicism. Two interpretations could be positioned here.
While the conservative interpretations see this moment as a moral obligation to civilise the world by
bringing in the long process of ‘development’ (Loh Fook Seng, 1970), the more critical viewpoints
interpret this moment as one of the crucial early steps of the long colonial and neo-colonial process of
producing a ‘class’ (Phillipson, 1992) of ‘clerks’ (Pennycook, 1998) by exercising the Anglicist ‘linguistic
imperialism’ (Phillipson, 1992). Some examples of activities of the colonisers, specifically during the
episode of 1757–1947, may help elaborate the above positions.
The East India Company, superficially being adorned with the policy of Orientalism, initially
used Persian as the official language and offered modest patronage for the establishment of the
Calcutta Madrasa and the Sanskrit College (Evans, 2002). However, in a subtle ‘racist’ argument,
the emerging socio-political strands of colonialism led to outweigh Anglicism by marking the
local languages as ‘worthless’, restricting funds for the traditional education system and making
EL as the working official language (Bailey, 1991). Interestingly, what made the situation more
complex was the active and decisive involvement of a group of local Indian bourgeoisie led by
the influential leader and scholar Raja Ram Mohan Roy. It is particularly Raja Ram Mohan
Roy, who, by raising questions regarding the orthodox Hindu religion, social practices, and edu-
cation system, hailed the importance of EL and ELE for masses of the Indian subcontinent from
an instrumental and utilitarian viewpoint, that is, for achieving profitable career as well as gaining
privilege in their uneven power relationship with the colonisers (Pennycook, 2017).
During 1835 and onwards, significant political, economic, cultural, and linguistic engineering
in the forms of bills and minutes was gradually developed.The most notable name, in this regard,
was Thomas Macaulay, whose position towards ELE had major implications in understanding
the cultural edifice of colonialism. He supported the Governor General Council’s socio-political
initiatives to make “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions,
in morals, in intellect” to serve the governors of the British Empire (Macaulay, 1952, p. 729).While
implementing the central decision of restricting financial allocation to maintain the traditional
education system as well as publications of books in Sanskrit and Persian, Macaulay argued for
funding ‘British model’ of education in Western subjects, with English as the language of instruc-
tion. Lord Bentick, the Governor General, entirely concurring with Macaulay urged that “all
funds appropriated for the purpose of education would be best employed on English education
alone” (Bureau of Education, 1920, p. 120, as cited in Pennycook, 2002, p. 82). Correspondingly,
the colonisers wanted to make their linguistic implantation deep-rooted and sustainable by
developing curriculum in line with the British education system. In the process, the introduction
of a grants-in-aid system facilitated a rapid growth of English-medium schools and colleges and
the status and acquisition planning regarding EL was established and made viable. The expan-
sionist zeal of Anglicism, thus, occasioned a massive expansion of studies in and on EL.
The expansion of Anglicism was further reinforced by providing the local people with
places to act as interpreters and subordinates to their colonial administrators. Pennycook (1998)
20
rightly pointed out that as an integral part of their expansionist mechanism, the colonial agenda
regarding ELE was merely ‘to produce clerks to run the colonial system’ (p. 539). At the turn of
the century, the impact of colonisation in terms of linguistic implantation and ELEP engineering,
thus, cultivated the deleterious consequences of spurring a clear demarcation among people in
the society: providing status, power, and position to the urban elite and middle classes while
ignoring the masses.
The overall findings on the development of ELEP in Bangladesh in the British colonial period,
thus, suggest a Janus-faced situation. On the one hand, EL was considered as a political tool
and ELEP was developed ‘to control, to manipulate, and achieve political ends’ (O’Barr, 1976,
pp. 7–8), and hence brings forth the strong influence of imperialism festooning the question
raised by Phillipson (1996), “English served[s]whose interest?” (p. 160). On the other hand, local
progenitors’ (e.g. Raja Ram Mohan Roy) instrumental view regarding EL and ELEP was a kind
of ‘right’ response towards the British colonisers, as Paranjape (2013) argued that the powerless
colonised people wanted to use EL as a means of knowledge to comprehend, cope with, and
counter the powerful colonisers. However, while revisiting further the infrastructure of EL and
ELEP in Bangladesh, the authors’ own critical understandings suggest that the whole process is
somewhat more complex and intriguing, which is discussed below.
The breakaway of the Indian subcontinent (on the ground of religion) at the end of the British
colonial rule in 1947 provided a new dimension within the infrastructure of language policy.
The two parts of Pakistan – then called East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now
Pakistan) – were situated geographically miles apart. Bangla was the dominant language in East
Pakistan, whereas West Pakistan was comprised with multilingual provinces. Demographically,
none of these languages were spoken in East Pakistan and at the same time there was no Bangla
speaker in West Pakistan. Consequently, EL during this period appeared as the de facto official
language (second language) between East and West Pakistan, particularly in the fields of admin-
istration, law, higher education, and social mobility.
Although the two regions were bound by religion, Islam, but different in culture and lan-
guage, Pakistani rulers wanted to follow the European model of a ‘one language, one nation’
formula (Wright, 2012). Choosing Urdu as the national language for the entire Pakistan by the
Pakistani rulers was an obvious political capitalisation not merely to address symbolic-ideological
requirements for unifying the newly created parts of Pakistan, but most importantly to continue
their socio-economic, cultural, and linguistic oppression on East Pakistan. Thus, the ‘linguistic
imperialism’ (Phillipson, 1996) of the British colonisers seems to resuscitate. Consequently, the
Bangla-speaking East Pakistanis perceived the Urdu-only state language policy as a weapon to
destroy their sociolinguistic, cultural, and political identity. So, they showed protests against it.
Along with long simmering geo-political issues and tensions between East Pakistan and West
Pakistan, the Language Movement of 1952, an unparalleled example in world history, was ignited
and ultimately ‘Bangla’ was secured as the national language in Bangladesh.
As an aftermath of the Language Movement 1952, EL enjoyed the status of a second language
and it was taught as a functional language at the educational institutions.The analysis of pertinent
content of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1956 (Government of Pakistan, 1956) showed that the
Pakistan government came up with a balanced language policy for the whole state. Article 214
of the Constitution clearly stated that Urdu (for West Pakistan) and Bangla (for East Pakistan)
would be the state languages for a period of 20 years from the Constitution day and placed EL
as the official language of Pakistan by providing it the status of a foreign language in the educa-
tion system.
Such provisions led the Government of Pakistan, particularly its Ministry of Education,
to examine the situation of language teaching in Pakistan, with special reference to Urdu,
21
Bangla, and English. Some international organisations, including the British Council, the
Ford Foundation, the United States Education Foundation in Pakistan, and the United States
Agency for International Development, recommended some schemes for language policy and
teaching methodology to bring about improvements in ELT as well as enhance its functional
use (Dil, 1966).
The Ministry of Education (1962), in line with the recommendations, commissioned the
Curriculum Committee for secondary education in 1960.The Committee in 1962, along with a
series of policy planning and directions in all subjects for Classes 6–10, came up with an explicit
decision to teach English as a functional language instead of as a mere subject of literature.
It outlined that EL should be taught as a compulsory language from Classes 6–12 in schools
as well as at the graduate level of the Pakistani education system (Dil, 1966). As a part of the
process, the Curriculum Committee also delineated a comprehensive and detailed curriculum
policy for secondary ELE in which vocabulary and syntactical structure teaching were mainly
emphasised. Urdu and Bangla were assigned as the medium of instruction in respective states,
however, from the 11th grade onward they were replaced with EL. The Commission justified its
secondary ELEP on the basis of enabling the students across the secondary schools of Pakistan
to comprehend, speak, read, and write simple English and achieve correct functional use of this
language (Curriculum committee report, 1962). In this way, the overall LEP considered and
outlined by the Commission satisfied the masses in a balanced way. However, the co-existence
of English-medium missionary schools was still occurring in urban settings, along with the
vernacular-medium schools in non-urban locales, thus, spawning forth the division between
the elite and the masses in society, the earlier social stratification implanted and nurtured by the
British colonisers.
Influences of nationalism (1972–1988): Marginalisation of EL

and inconsistency in ELEP
A critical discursive shift regarding ELEP in Bangladesh was clearly evidenced right after
1971. The country through its victory in the 1952 language movement seeded the sense of
the Bangladeshi nationalism and true independence, which was accomplished later in the 1971
Liberation War. Bangladesh, thus being a twice-liberated country (once from the British colo-
nialism in 1947 and then from Pakistani domination in 1971) experienced a wave of strong
nationalism, which resulted both in unwavering promotion of Bangla as the first and official lan-
guage and ultra-nationalistic rejection of EL.This situation offered Bangladesh a unique position
among the subcontinental countries regarding the use of EL. Table 2.1 represents the situation
more vividly.
As EL does not possess an organic relationship with Bangladesh but an imposed one, ELE
was seen to be marginalised in the decolonised Bangladesh by the cri de cœur of nationalism.
A firm nationalistic fervour was prevalent from the Constitution of Bangladesh 1972 to the
subsequent education policy reports (till 1988). There was a strong inclination towards Bangla,
the state language. Article no. 3 of the Constitution declared Bangla the ‘official language’ for
both communicative and academic purposes. However, the Constitution mentioned nothing
regarding the status, functions, use, or importance of EL in Bangladesh. A pedagogical justifi-
cation regarding Bangla as the medium of instruction at all levels of education was supported
in the decolonised country’s first education policy by arguing that it would help nurture and
promote students’ intellectual capabilities (Ministry of Education, 1974). This single-minded
national LEP, reflecting nationalism as an interpretive link between past, present, and future, also
appeared to influence the scope, and functions of EL and ELE with the gradual yet ultimate aim
22
Table 2.1 A chronological summary of EL and ELEP in different policy documents (from 1971
to 2010, Adapted from: Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014)
Policy documents The position of EL and ELE
1972 The Constitution of • Bangla was declared the official language

Bangladesh • Nothing was mentioned regarding EL
1974 Bangladesh Education • EL was given status of a foreign language, to be accessed from
Commission Class 6
• General emphasis on EL
1976 English Teaching Taskforce • EL to be taught either in Class 3 or in Class 6, based on avail-
Commission ability of EL teachers
1988 Bangladesh National • Grade 3 suggested as recommended starting point for ELE
Education Commission • Grade 6 suggested as uniform starting point for ELE
2000 National Education Policy • EL set as medium of instruction for kindergartens
(NEP) • Curriculum and all text material used in kindergarten to be
translated into EL
• Introduction of ELE as extra subject from Classes 1 and 2 and
as compulsory subject from Class 3
• Along with Bangla, EL could be medium of instruction from
the secondary level (Class 7)
• Emphasis on EL as medium of instruction at the tertiary level
2003 National Education • Reemphasis on learning the four skills of EL as a foreign lan-
Commission (NEC) guage from the primary level
• Emphasis on rebuilding overall ELE curriculum
• Emphasis on providing quality training for all primary and
secondary school teachers to improve ELE
• Emphasis on introducing a six-month EL course at the ter-
tiary level
2010 NEP • EL recognised as essential tool to building knowledge-based
society
• Emphasis on English writing and speaking from the very
beginning of primary education
• EL to be set as compulsory subject adopted in all streams
from the secondary level
• EL as medium of instruction could be introduced from the
secondary level
• Emphasis on appointing adequate number of EL teachers at
secondary level
• English to be a compulsory subject in all colleges and
universities
• EL (along with Bangla) to be the medium of instruction at
the tertiary level
• Emphasis on the need to translate books written in English
to Bangla
of decolonising the overall education system. This very situation in a newly liberated country
like Bangladesh can also be equated with the attitude possessed by the post-colonial African
scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. Ngũgĩ criticised the dangers of colonisation of mind imprinted
by the British among his people and put emphasis on the omnipresence of the native language
across the different domains of the country (Williams & Chrisman, 2015). Thus, the gradual but
simultaneous process of institutionalising Bangla while relegating EL instigated a subtle tension
between Bangla and EL, one of the dynamics of language politics in Bangladesh.
From a critical viewpoint, it should also be mentioned that language policy in Bangladesh after
the independence in 1971 was mostly informed and constructed by Bangladeshi nationalism
23
and identity, which in turn are not always based on selfless motivation and patriotism. Put it
differently, language policy decisions serve interests of certain groups at certain positions in the
hierarchy of bureaucracy. For example, the nationalist leaders who steered the 1952 Language
Movement and the 1971 Liberation War and eventually formed the newly liberated country
cabinet mostly came from the rural background and so were more comfortable in using Bangla
(Banu & Sussex, 2001).Their constitutional decision to promote and establish Bangla language at
the cost of relegating EL, therefore, was intentionally (politically and discursively) constructed in
order to serve, at the one end, their utilitarian and patriotic motives and self-interest and agendas,
on the other.
Inconsistency in ELEP, another consequence of strong nationalism, was also prevalent during
this episode. EL was abolished from the primary stage and withdrawn from the tertiary level
as a compulsory subject in 1972 and 1974, but it remained as a compulsory subject in the sec-
ondary curriculum. A lack of unity of purpose, planning, and actions was seen when the NEC
1987 policy held off the decision of introducing ELE in Grade 3, proposed it for Grade 6, and
concurrently underpinned and secured the status of Bangla in all spheres by passing the Bangla
Procholon Ain (Bangla Implementation Act) in 1987. Moreover, for Bangla, according to the
policy planners and scholars, it was not plausible to take over the functions and domains previ-
ously allotted to EL, say for instance in higher education sector where textbooks were mostly
written in English (Hamid, 2011). Thus, there was a gap between what Bangla was projected to
be in policy and what language was used in education in reality.
The discussion on influences of nationalism regarding ELEP (1972–1988) indicated that the
series of policies during this period was developed within a tripartite stance – nationalism, pro-
gressivism, and socialism. The stance was also influenced by the traditional political culture, that
is, change in government brings change in policies. At one end, the nationalist strand strongly
advocated the use of Bangla in every public domain, including education, suggesting a sound and
reasonable pedagogical platform for all students to acquire subject-matter knowledge. On the
other end, the advocates of progressivism supported for early ELE and English as the language
of education because of its strong association with global communication, economic prosperity,
and modern technology. In addition, the socialist strand, while advocating the necessity of EL
also foreshadowed its negative impact on creating a social cleavage. These three strands, showing
a lack of coherence and congruence failed to bring any consistent ELEP, thus resulted in drastic
impacts on the projected ELT practice and outcomes.
Influences of globalisation and local development motives (1990 onwards):

Robust and enhanced orientation towards ELE
Globalisation, a 21st century phenomenon, has been considered to be a significant, worldwide
factor influencing ELEP in developing countries, including Bangladesh.The scholarly discussions
(e.g. Rizvi, 2007) asserted that globalisation is not merely a historical antecedent. Rather, it works
as an inevitable consequence of colonialism in guise of a macro-level process, and so diffuses
changes and demands into the political, economic, social, education, technological, and cultural
interconnection across the globe. Therefore, globalisation is nothing more than serving the pol-
icies and interests of the powerful international forces and elites.
From the 1990s onwards (Table 2.1), an enhanced and robust attitude towards ELEP rhet-
oric was observed in Bangladesh, indicating a necessity of, on the one hand, disentangling with
past rigidities and austerities caused by the fervour of decolonisation and, on the other hand,
symbiotically keeping pace with the impetus of globalisation (supra-national) and local devel-
opment (national/local) motives. It is the marriage of EL and globalisation, whether arranged
24
(Phillipson, 1992) or co-incidental (Crystal, 1997), that has driven individuals, societies, and the
nation towards ELE (Hamid, 2016). Recognising EL proficiency as an essential work-oriented
skill, a tool for employability and development, the policy made ELE compulsory from Grade 1
in Bangladesh, introduced EL as a compulsory course at tertiary level, and revised ELE curric-
ulum and books around the ideology of communicative language teaching (CLT).
Lately, a series of discourses in the form of policies and promises in curriculum, methods,
materials, and evaluation sector of ELE were revised and redeveloped to accelerate the country’s
socio-economic and human resource capacity effectively and qualitatively in line with the global
economy. For instance, the NEP 2010 promulgated the importance of ELE by defining its aims
and objectives for developing a knowledge-oriented, skilled human resource so that “[students]
can compete in the job market, especially in the economic sector of the country” and also “they
[students] can successfully compete at the global context” (policy no. 11 & 12, Ministry of
Education, 2010, p. 9). Having realised the global call for human resource development within
the national context, CLT approach was firmly recommended as a pedagogical innovation.
Following the revised National Curriculum of English guidelines, English Textbook series were
redesigned and redeveloped in 2012. ELE assessment policy was also reconstructed by including
listening and speaking tests in school-based continuous assessment scheme with a view to enable
and ensure students’ competency in four skills of EL (see Nur, 2019 for details).The policy trend,
in turn, encouraged and legitimised the private enterprise of education – English version schools
of national curriculum, English-medium schools, and 97 private universities (BANBEIS, 2018).
These policy directions, thus, appear to contradict the post-independent LEP, which were pro-
moting Bangla in every sphere of national life, including education.
In summary, LEP in a country cannot take place in vacuum; rather it is influenced by and
closely related to supra-national as well as national level socio-politico-economic and educa-
tional sine-qua-non (Kirkpatrick & Liddicoat, 2017). The history of ELEP in the Bangladeshi
context, thus, suggests a clear indication of a ‘post-colonial puzzle’ (Canagarajah, 2005), that is,
a tension between the imposition of colonisation, the idealism of decolonisation and nation-
alism, and the emergence of globalisation (Figure 2.2). This complex notion could also be
equated with what Pennycook (2017), regarding ELEP in decolonised and developing coun-
tries, put together as a dystopian assumption of linguistic imperialism, resistance, and a utopian
vision of linguistic and global capital. EL and ELEP in Bangladesh was a direct consequence
of colonialism, which later on was seen to be relegated in terms of usage and scope in public
domains including education sector due to the strong fervour of nationalism of the decolonised
Bangladesh. However, the symbiotic force of globalisation and nation development motives
gradually led to the reinstatement of ELE. EL, being the de facto lingua franca of international
communication and globalisation, has become a much sought-after commodity. Such rich yet
complex infrastructure of ELEP also requires a critical evaluation of its consequences, which is
presented in the following section.
The consequences of policy influences: The big picture

of ELE in Bangladesh
So, what are the consequences, the big picture fabricated by the tension between the dynamics
of policy influences in the current Bangladeshi ELE context? Despite its monolingual character,
in Bangladesh like many other ESL contexts, ELE has been regarded as an instrument to accel-
erate productivity and employability – a human resource and nation-building tool. However,
this linguistic commodification, a by-product of the entanglement of colonialism, nationalism,
and globalisation, contributed to the inconsistent, fragmented, and unsustainable nature of policy
25
directions in different times. Consequently, some critical issues in ELE in Bangladesh emerged, of
which social inequality, heavy dependency on international donors, poor extent of policy imple-
mentation, and unsatisfactory outcomes of ELT and learning are obvious.
First, the current policy of ELE for all, endorsement of English version curriculum and
English-medium schools, cannot be justified from the socio-ecological stance of Bangladesh.
These policy decisions seem to have largely been leveraged by a controversial ideology or
Western fallacy of early and more exposure, better learning (Phillipson, 1992) – a fallacy of
colonisation in guise of globalisation. This policy rhetoric in the name of linguistic capitalism
(Bourdieu, 1991) contributed in widening social inequality and social class division, the issue
sowed and nurtured by the colonisers while imposing ELE in the subcontinent. At one end, the
policy of ELE for everyone from the very onset of their studentship sounded to be what Hamid
(2010) stated as a reflection of the notion of social justice and equity – everyone should enjoy
the benefit of learning EL. On the other end, the ‘more English’ policy in the elitist education
system (English version curriculum and instruction and English-medium schools), which is
only accessible to the elite class people (backed by upper, upper middle, and middle class fam-
ilies) has stigmatised the democratisation of ELE access policy by prompting and nourishing
social inequality. For example, students having socio-economic affordability are accessing edu-
cation from those private schools in metro areas, whereas schools in rural areas and religious
schools (particularly Qawmi madrasahs) are attracting lower/poor class family students (Nur,
2019). Interestingly enough, these Qawmi madrasahs hardly teach English. EL and ELE, while
creating opportunities for individuals and nations, also generate significant socio-economic
disparities.
The social class issue, a non-cognitive factor also carries a complicity of two notions. At one
end, Bangladesh is a highly inegalitarian society with an urban population figure of 28.4% and a
literacy rate of 58% (World Bank, 2016) and, on the other end, EL has been regarded as the key
determiner of upward and outward social and economic prestige and mobility. The juxtaposed
complicity, therefore, disregards the discourse of the Human Capital Approach (Esch, 2009).
While the knowledge of EL could be referred to an asset, and accessing to ELE as an invest-
ment, the outcome is expected to counterbalance the cost. However, an in-depth analysis and crit-
ical understanding shows that the ideology of ELE for all as an investment in Bangladesh was
overgeneralised. In other words, ability to invest (access) varies in terms of its type and usability,
which in turn depends on social class as well as their affordability: access to ELE varies in terms
of institutional capacity (teachers, medium of instruction, English version curriculum) as well
as individual capacity (socio-economic background of people). Consequently, the extent of the
outcome is also likely to vary based on the types and extent of access to ELE. For instance, students
who are capable of (socially and financially) accessing ‘the more the better’ ELE in English-
medium/version schools are highly likely to be English-competent and sit on an advantageous
position in their career. Thus, the varied access to and provision of ELE is acting as a factor of
social stratification.
These socio-economic parameters further provide the rationale for discussing the budgetary
allocation for education in general and ELE in particular. It appeared that the ‘compulsory’,
‘early’, and ‘ambitious’ access policy of ELE did not consider the local resourcing capabilities.
The education sector in Bangladesh, which is a legacy of colonial structure, receives only 2.2%
of the gross domestic product (GDP) and 12.6% of the total outlay (BANBEIS, 2018). Along
with the UNESCO’s stipulation, though Bangladesh is committed to the global forum to spend
6.0% of the GDP or allocate at least 20% of the national budget for education, the current state
of allocation on education is lower than that of her other South Asian neighbouring countries,
like Maldives, Nepal, and Afghanistan. Therefore, it is not surprising that resourcing allocation
26
for ELE would be too petty to acknowledge as well as to disperse it proportionately among its
related sectors.The situation also explains the widespread role of international donors and NGOs
in shaping the educational landscape in Bangladesh, which is discussed below.
In all cases, the less ecological approach in reforming the access policy of ELE exhibits
a trend of ‘neo-colonial/imperialistic fallacy’ (Phillipson, 1992) and ‘ethos without empathy’
(Waters & Vilches, 2008) for the decolonised, developing countries.The context of policy influ-
ence, for example, colonisation, globalisation, imposes rapid and massive changes on these coun-
tries mostly without considering their socio-economic and cultural nuances and capacities.
These countries, in turn, struggle to adopt and acclimate with the imposition in fairly signifi-
cant ways, with little previous or even gradual preparation. Taking ELT as the case, Phillipson
(1992), for instance, argued that major neo-colonial agencies, including the British Council,
the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Canadian International Development
Agency, tend to play the role of spreading the doctrines of imperialism. These doctrines or
myths regarding ELT in disguise of globalisation, cooperation, and development aid reinstated
the policy of linguistic and socio-political imperialism in the non-native, decolonised, and
developing countries.
Second, globalisation, promoting the hegemonic interests of the West and their local
collaborators, plays the role of ‘the Empire strikes back’ (Ashcroft et al., 1989) and disperses
global capitalism in various forms in the context of developing countries. Pennycook (2007),
taking ELE as an example asserted that “There are many ways in which the current spread of
English, teaching methods, and textbooks can be seen as a recapitulation, if not an intensifica-
tion, of (neo-) colonial relations” (p. 13). The residuals of colonial legacy in the globalised world
are mirrored through the above-mentioned neo-colonial agents, who, shifting their emphasis
away from ‘cultural’ to ‘educational’ affairs and from ‘direct colonialism’ to ‘development aids’
and ‘global markets’ (Pennycook, 2017), play a vital role in developing and shaping a country’s
ELEP. Possessing ‘one golden egg – the English language’ (Donaldson, 1984, p. 35), these inter-
national capitalists, in terms of socio-cultural and funding organisations always play the role of
missionaries to spread EL in developing countries. They offer financial and consultancy support
in different projects with reference to developing curriculum, textbooks, methodology of ELT
and learning, as well as providing training to the teachers.
One of the critical examples of such riding of colonialism ‘on the new wings of globalisation’
(Lin & Martin, 2005, p. 5) in a postcolonial context like Bangladesh is the dominance of various
international donor-funded ELE projects. The main purpose of these projects in the name of
providing resource support is to legitimise their exportation of the approach of CLT, arguing
that communicative competence in EL will enable people to achieve economic, social, cultural,
and technological benefits in the globalised world. Given the country’s national capacity, this is
undeniable that developing countries do need resource support, but also raises the question: what
is the nature and impacts of these supports? In depth investigation of this question is beyond the
scope of this current chapter.
However, based on related studies (Hamid, 2010; Nur, 2018; Nur & Short, 2019), it could be
stated that these projects offer short-term semblance and solution. Supports from these inter-
national ‘gifters’ (Hunter, 2009), which are showered by positive evaluation and feedback report
mostly commissioned and conducted by experts from donor countries (Brumfit, 1983), also
received criticism on the ground of tending to bring their own socio-political and cultural
agenda ‘on the planning table’ with “no such sentiment as altruism at the apex of activity in
a donor–recipient relationship” (Bolitho, 2012, pp. 35–36). Such imperialistic perversion was
planned long before in the British colonial period and the BC in its Annual Report in 1963–64
admitted that “The council does not pretend to dispense charity: in all its work it aims to
27
further the long-term interests of Britain” (quoted in Pennycook, 2017). Thus, the paradigm of
EL and ELE has been shifted into a discourse of global commodity – a global business, a pol-
itical propaganda from the idealistic rhetoric notion of development aid, cultural, and political
understanding (Pennycook, 2017).
The above-mentioned issues also led the way in addressing the third critical consequence:
the unsatisfactory extent of policy implementation and poor outcomes in ELE in Bangladesh.
The discussion in the previous section regarding context of policy influences recognised that
Bangladesh during the colonial period and post-independence period experienced a conflicting
equation regarding Bangla and EL.The events and policy directions during those terms indicated
the promotion of one language at the cost of the other, with a very little consistency; none-
theless, a steadiness was identified during 1990s. In this connection, more than a decade has
passed since ELEP in Bangladesh received some robust policy reforms. Major curriculum policy
including method, material, and evaluation policy directions have also been endorsed in 2010
and 2012 accordingly. This endorsement, following Grassick (2016) can take two paths: it can
either resettle the status quo into the intended one or can be detoured or ‘dampened down’
(Hiver, 2015). In the Bangladeshi ELE context, the policy importation and its implementation
without considering the local education system, needs, and capabilities (human and resourcing)
appeared to follow the latter path, so the projected benefits are yet to be achieved and reported
(Nur, 2019).
The imposition of pedagogies, particularly CLT, which is the consequence of both the com-
modification of ELE and globalisation, has led to the attenuation of ELT particularly in non-
English context. For example, the majority of the Bangladeshi EL teachers consider CLT simply
as a method instead of an approach. Moving away from the espoused EL teaching–learning
approaches, materials, and evaluation policies, ELE is heavily inclined towards product-oriented
teaching–learning (Nur & Islam, 2018). The proliferation of ELT pedagogies and methods
downplays the curriculum objectives, effective teaching–learning of EL, the inclusion of school-
based listening and speaking tests but concentrates on examination results.
The most drastic consequence, in this regard, is the degradation of the overall quality of educa-
tion by means of result engineering of high-stake national examinations. Though school-leaving
students’ communicative competence in various studies has been reported to be a negligible
one, Bangladesh is enjoying a high pass rate in public examinations. Such an acceleration of pass
rate in high-stake examinations intends to showcase the progress of Bangladesh in achieving the
milestones of the Millennium Development Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals, a
political propaganda, which were again defined, designed, and imposed by the Western inter-
national agencies on developing countries as pre-conditions for receiving further funds and other
allocations (Nur & Islam, 2018).
Conclusion
This chapter, shedding light on the complex nexus between history and policy, aimed at
revisiting critically the ‘infrastructure’ of ELEP from colonial period to date and its consequences,
the ‘big picture’ in Bangladesh. The discussion in the chapter was formulated based on two
research questions. The first question has been addressed by means of showing, first, how
supra-national influences in the name of colonialism imposed and positioned EL and ELE in
a diverse socio-cultural and linguistic setting of Bangladesh. Second, it discusses how the spirit
of nationalism at sub-national level has marginalised the status of EL and rearticulated ELEP
in the post-independent Bangladesh. Third, the chapter delineates the latest breakthroughs in
ELEP – mutual thrusts of globalisation and neo-colonial agents at supra-national level and local
28
development (socio-economic and human capital) motives at national level. The chapter, thus,
identified ELEP process in Bangladesh as a complex ‘infrastructure’ representing a puzzle and
conflicts among the influences and ideologies of colonisation, nationalism, and globalisation.
The discussion also substantiated the ‘big picture’ of ELEP in the country by evaluating the
main threads of impacts of policy infrastructure. Linking to the inconsistency and incongruity
in policy reforms, the chapter highlights unsatisfactory extent of policy implementations and
dismal outcomes of ELE.
Based on the critical discussion, the need for policy makers to move towards a more context-
driven, rational, synchronised, and holistic approach to ELE policy development process has
been suggested. This could be done by reconsidering the provision of ELE, culture of ELT and
learning, and support for ELT professionals more profoundly and concretely.
The egalitarian and aspirational nature of the present ELEPs in Bangladesh is purely tech-
nical and prescriptive (Nur, 2019). This is particularly relevant since ELE clearly reflects a dis-
parity in its access and provision, thus intensifying the social stratification based on EL/ELE
‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. The study, therefore, suggests that policy makers should be critically
more informed by sociological approach while assigning the status of EL as well as formulating
ELE policies. It would be advisable for the policy makers to be aware that the expansion and
sustainability of quality education is grounded in steadiness of policy, equity, and social cohe-
sion (WB, 2016).
Another key implication of the discussion is the necessity for realignment of four basic
components – ELE curriculum objectives, approaches, and methodologies of ELT, and assessment
patterns. The study reported a mismatch between ELE goals, curriculum objectives, and delivery
strategies due to the weakness of high-stake EL assessment policy.Therefore, it is a matter of great
urgency for the policy makers to reconstruct the national EL assessment pattern and ensure its
apposite implementation.
Recognising the importance of ELT stakeholders’ roles and contexts, the study argues for
reconsidering the provision of adequate and appropriate support for each stakeholder. Here,
support should not merely be deemed a single shot training and funding, but also an underlying
ethos. The policy developers need to reflect on how micro-level policy implementers would be
provided with on-going quality support and follow-up training. The heavy dependency on the
West, in this regard, should also be minimised by promoting and strengthening the local support
system both qualitatively and resourcefully.
The innovation and policy reform literature (Fullan, 2005) advocates that the degree of resist-
ance to and acceptance of policy directions by the micro-level agencies depends mainly on
establishing not only an aligned but also a permeable connected system – a rapport with the
macro-level policy makers. It is, therefore, crucial for the policy makers initiate a re-culturation in
policy development process, that is, to come out from the top-down approach of policy process
immediately, listen to the voices of micro-level policy agents sensibly, and involve them actively
in policy development process.
The study also implies that policy makers need to incorporate R&D (research and devel-
opment) approaches into ELEP development and implementation process. Such a culture of
research-based monitoring and assessment would assist in identifying strengths and issues and
thus would provide an on-going, formative, synergistic process of revisiting, revising and/or
updating (if required) policies and implementation system. Otherwise ELE will continue to be a
superficially adorned project in the presence of too many disconnected, sporadic, and fragmented
policies.
Finally, the authors intend to conclude the chapter with a note of hope. It is realised that
Bangladesh has been able to increase its literacy rate during the last 45 years. Statistics about
29
students, teachers, educational institutions, and the examination pass rate have also been
undoubtedly positive (BANBEIS, 2018). Stakeholders, from the policy makers to the end users,
have become more conscious about the importance of ELE. Many policies have been coined.
The nation has also made a remarkable progress to be eligible to graduate from a ‘least developed
country’ to a ‘developing country’ (United Nations, 2018).Yet, consistency in ELE policy, quality
of ELE, and its sustainable impact is still a matter of concern. Therefore, to bring positive,
cohesive, and meaningful changes and developments in the ‘big picture’ of EL and ELE, it is
imperative for the policy makers of Bangladesh to follow the straightforward logic – ‘history’
(infrastructure) should be brought adequately and analysed and addressed critically and con-
scientiously at the ‘policy’ table. Put simply, we need to adopt, adapt, and thus formulate a more
appropriate, ecological, and time-bound ELEP based on a constellation of coherence, connect-
edness, synergy, alignment to and appropriateness, and capacity of our own context and then
integrate pressure (accountability) and support (capacity building) (Fullan, 2005) to mobilise as
well as ensure its practice.
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3
A BALANCED APPROACH TO
LANGUAGE-IN-EDUCATION
POLICY AND PLANNING IN
BANGLADESH
Rethinking the current trend
Tania Rahman
Introduction
In national language policy and planning in developing countries in Asia in the new millen-
nium, striking a balance between maintenance of national unity, representation of national
and ethnic identities, and survival in the global economic world have become challenging
(Rappa & Wee, 2006). These broad issues of language policy and planning are also reflected
in language-in-education policies and planning activities in these contexts (Rappa & Wee,
2006). In Bangladesh, for instance, national language-in-education planning is a thorny matter
because of two competing issues: the emotional attachment to the national language, Bangla,
and the growing popularity of English to attain upward social mobility. Bangladeshi nation-
alism is largely symbolised by Bangla, which is proclaimed as the ‘state’ language in the country’s
constitution (Government of Bangladesh, 1972, Act 3, p. 2). All policies regarding language
and language-in-education in Bangladesh since independence have been geared by ideologies
in support of monolingual rather than bilingual (i.e. English and Bangla) policies to promote
Bangla only (Hossain & Tollefson, 2007). In the latest National Education Policy of 2010, how-
ever, the need for English education in Bangladesh has been expressed with suggestions to
upgrade the current situation of English Language Teaching in Bangladesh.The Policy indicates
the need for sequential transition to English-medium instruction by keeping the options open
for schools to choose English as the medium of instruction (MoI) at the secondary level of edu-
cation. It, however, lacks explicit and clear directions to strike a balance between the polarising
demands of the groups regarding education in Bangla, the mother tongue of the demograph-
ically largest group, and in the international language English. Till now, no effective step has
been taken to solve such problems. There is also currently a need for workable theoretical
frameworks or models to justify a bi-/multilingual language-in-education policy and planning
for Bangladesh.
The main objective of the chapter is to propose a working theoretical framework for language-
in-education planning in Bangladesh. The framework draws on the ‘language policy as a balan-
cing act’ approach (Rappa & Wee, 2006) and is based on the ‘language-as-resource’ orientation
(Ruiz, 1984). The primary goal of the chapter is to propose a sequentially bi-/multilingual
33
Tania Rahman
framework integrating education in the country’s national language Bangla and in the inter-
national language English.
This chapter is significant in three ways. First, in Bangladesh since independence in 1971, the
national language-in-education planning schemes have played a crucial role in bringing changes
in the usage of language in the country’s education sector. However, no policy initiative actually
defined the proper roles of the different languages, including the national language Bangla, the
colonial language English, and the indigenous languages existing in the country. Therefore, this
chapter offers a relevant rationale for defining the roles of languages in Bangladesh. Second, since
the roles of English and Bangla, including other languages in Bangladesh, are not clearly defined,
which is reflected in the debates regarding the selection of either English or Bangla as the MoI
in the mainstream education system that follows a national curriculum, this has been one of
the important indicators of competition between English and Bangla in the country. A major
issue emerging from this disassociation is the conflict between the Bangla-oriented Bangladeshi
national identity represented by Bangla and the socially constructed identity represented by a
previously colonial but currently a significant international language, English.The chapter, there-
fore, explores the conflict between the sentiment related to the Bangalee/Bangladeshi national
identity and a desire to participate in the global economy. The chapter also investigates how the
country’s language-in-education planning has aided sustaining the conflict. Third, by proposing
the framework, the chapter examines if a certain level of ‘complementarity’ or a certain level of
harmonious position for the languages in Bangladesh can be reached in the national language-
in-education planning by offering education sequentially in Bangla and English.
This chapter consists of three major sections. At first, it presents a discussion on the national
identity formation in Bangladesh and the role of language-in-education planning in the for-
mation of the Bangalee/Bangladeshi identity. The next section presents a review of literature
on various perspectives regarding identity and language-in-education planning followed by the
framework and analyses of its components showing its potential for application in Bangladesh.
The concluding section summarises the implications of the framework.
Nationalism, identity, and language-in-education

planning in Bangladesh
The concept of identity, particularly group identity such as national identity, is highly problem-
atic, which indicates a variety of questions and tensions. From an essentialist perspective, the
identity of a nation as a group is ‘static’ (Norton, 2000; Weedon, 1997) and ‘standardised’ (Joseph,
2004), whereas from a constructivist viewpoint, the formation of national identity is a complex,
dynamic, and constant process. For the essentialist political scientist, in order to form a nation,
group internal differences have to be eliminated and non-conformity has to be checked (Phillips,
2010). On the contrary, the dynamic feature of identity is reflected in constructivist claims of
nation-forming as a ‘process’ in which, unlike the primordialist/essentialist stance on nations as
‘ancient’, ‘eternal’, and ‘fixed’ entities (May, 2001), the concept of the nation is neither exclusive
of the past nor ‘an infinite continuity’ and that ethnic groups often go through ‘radical trans-
formation’ of their ‘pre-modern’ identities when they become nations (Smith, 1995a, b). Here,
Hall’s (1996a, b) conceptualisation of ‘identity-as-process’ is significant in viewing nationalism as
‘dynamic’ rather than ‘fixed’ and ‘unchanging’. Considering the historic and social circumstances,
which are flexible and variable, the identity of a nation also evolves with those circumstances.
Change is inevitable in these circumstances, which determine the formation of a national identity.
In the constructivist orientation, then, the formation of the identity of a group such as a nation
is considered a ‘process’ in which individuals and their acquaintances categorically belong to the
34
Language-in-education policy and planning
group (Joseph, 2004). Hall (1996a, b) discusses this notion of ‘identity-in-process’ and holds that
identification takes place when others recognise the common origins and characteristics which
individuals in a group share with the rest of the members of that group (Hall, 1996b, pp. 2–4).
In the process of identity formation, imagination and memory play very ‘essential’ roles.
Imagination holds a crucial place in Anderson’s (1991) conceptualisation of the nation as an
‘imagined political community’:
It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most
of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each
lives the image of their communion….it is imagined as a community, because, regard-
less of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is
always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship.
(Anderson, 1991, pp. 6–7)
In such imaginations, the collective memory of a shared past, the historical narratives that a com-
munity inherits and shares over generations, essentially functions to preserve the internal cohe-
sion of the group (Tallentire, 2001, p. 197).
In such arguments of identity, language is considered a significant marker of group member-
ship such as a ‘boundary marker’ (Heller, 1987; Tabouret-Keller, 1997), or ‘symbolic border guards’
(Armstrong, 1982).Whether a speaker belongs to the dominant group or not depends on not only
how the individual speaker values the language but also how the dominant group decides the value
of the language (Bourdieu, 1997). For example, in Bangladesh, Bangla has the highest status and
98% Bangladeshi nationals belong to the Bangalee ethnic group.The Bangladeshi national identity,
besides territorial autonomy and sovereignty, draws on the ‘shared cultural heritage’ and a shared
past of the Bangalee ethnicity regardless of the existence of the multiple ethnicities within the
nation. Leaning on the shared historical narratives of a rich cultural heritage, the Bangalee ethni-
city and Bangladeshi nationalism are both represented by the national language Bangla, which is
the mother tongue of most of the people in the country. Most of the people in Bangladesh speak
different varieties of a single language, Bangla. The linguistic homogeneity of the people of this
land inspired the birth of the nation. It fuelled the Language Movement or Bhasha Andolon during
the oppressive rule of Pakistan on February 21 in 1952 when the Bangla-speaking people in the
then East Pakistan fought and protested against the imposition of Urdu over Bangla as the state
language. On the other hand, English arrived in Bangladesh when the East India Company started
functioning in Bengal in 1757.The status of English as a major official language of the land persisted
through the Partition of 1947 till the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. Currently, English is
used in Bangladesh as ‘an important language of government, education, and the media’, mostly by
the urban elites that comprise a small section of the total population (Hossain and Tollefson, 2007,
p. 243). About 80% of the country’s population living in the rural areas, however, have little or no
access to English language education (Hossain and Tollefson, 2007; Imam, 2005; Rahman, 2010).
The concepts of national ‘cultural traditions’ and ‘heritage’ in Bangladesh are mainly attributed
to Bangla language and culture, as reflected in official documents such as the Constitution of
1972 (Mohsin, 2003). As the Bangladeshi national identity is historically associated with the
Bangla language and Bangalee ethnic identity, the language planning of the country, particu-
larly the status and language-in-education planning, is largely Bangla-oriented. The ‘emotional’
attachment of the speakers of Bangla in Bangladesh rests upon a shared history of hegemony
and struggle in which Bangla is associated with the struggle and sacrifices for sovereignty and
freedom, whereas English and Urdu are linked with hegemony and as the weapon of the British
and Pakistani colonisers as the hegemonic rulers of the land. Currently, however, such antagonistic
35
Tania Rahman
attitudes towards English in Bangladesh are changing as reflected in opinions of groups supporting
English language education in the country since independence in 1971. Such change of attitudes
towards English may be attributed to the ‘political nature of history and memory’ (Tallentire,
2001, p. 199) of the Bangladeshi nation. As Tallentire (2001) writes about the political nature of
memory in shaping the identity of a nation, she explains the dynamic nature of national memory
as dependent on “the past as the legitimizer and the source of the ideals, success, character, and
boundaries of the nation” (p. 200). She characterises the memory of a nation as “spontaneous or
manipulated, directed at internal or external audiences, and full of internal divisions and contro-
versies” (Tallentire, 2001, p. 200). Such memories are primarily manipulated by “social elites and
involves the dominant frames of identity, formed and transmitted by governments, schools, the
media, and academics” (Tallentire, 2001, p. 199). Although significance for education in English
in Bangladesh was initially voiced by the educated elites of the country, nowadays it has turned
into a necessity for the mass of the land. The political memory related to Bangla and English in
Bangladesh is thus “dynamic, negotiated between the individual and the community, between
personal experience and wider historical events” (Tallentire, 2001, p. 199).
Although the nation-making process in Bangladesh has been ‘dynamic’, similar to the ‘identity-
as-process’ perspective (Hall, 1996a, b), the Bangalee/Bangladeshi identification of the nation has
been primarily essentialist, either affiliated to a religion-influenced and territorially sovereign
Bangladeshi nationality, or a secular Bangalee nationalism. In all these developments, language has
played a crucial part in shaping the present Bangladeshi national identity.
The development of ‘Bangalee’/‘Bangladeshi’ identity of the nation of present-day Bangladesh
evolved in three phases: pre-independence, independence, and post-independence phases. In all
three phases, hegemony was a common thread and language played a crucial role in the hege-
monic practices of the colonisers. The first phase of Bangalee nationalism owes much to the
Bengal Renaissance movement, which sparked over the Partition of Bengal, dividing the Bangla-
speaking part of India under the British rule into two administrative parts in 1905: The Hindu-
oriented West Bengal and the Muslim-majority East Bengal (Majumdar, 1943; Sengupta, 2001).
At that time, English was used by the British colonisers to produce English-educated natives to
run the colonial administration (Ferguson, 2004). Access to English education later provided
the basis for interracial divisions between English-educated Hindus and Muslims, and such
social divides furthered later to internal divisions within the religious groups. However, despite
supported by the English-educated Muslim Bangalee elites, the Partition was withdrawn facing
strong opposition from the influential Hindu Bangalee community (Majumdar, 1943; Sengupta,
2001). Later, during the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, the Muslim-majority East Bengal
was tied with Muslim-majority West Pakistan based on religious ideologies overlooking the geo-
graphical, ethnolinguistic, and cultural gaps between the two parts of the new nation of Pakistan.
At that time, the Muslim Bangalee elites and leaders in East Bengal who felt ‘adrift and in need
of confirmation of their identity’ chose religion over language and cultural ethnicity to merge
with the Islam-oriented nation of West Pakistan (Thompson, 2007, p. 38).
The second phase of Bangalee/Bangladeshi nationhood is marked by the events leading to the
independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan and the political scenario in independent Bangladesh.
The emergence of Bangladeshi nationalism was due to the reaction of East Pakistan to the
“hegemony of West Pakistani nationalism which was primarily based on religion” (Mohsin,
2003, p. 81). Among the many causes for the failure in integrating the Bangla-speaking people
in the Pakistani nation-building process, the Pakistani rulers’ diminutive and hegemonic atti-
tude towards Bangla was instrumental. This attitude acted towards the revival of the Bangalee
identification of the people in East Pakistan which sparked the Language Movement [Bhasha
Andolon] in 1952 (Hossain & Tollefson, 2007; Imam, 2005; Mohsin, 2003; Thompson, 2007).
36
Later, the identification process of the majority Bangla-speaking people in East Pakistan as a sep-
arate nation culminated into the people’s victory against Pakistan in the War of Independence
in 1971, creating an independent Bangladeshi nation. After independence, during the rule of the
Awami League government led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who led the nation in the War of
Independence, the national identity of the people of Bangladesh was characterised as a ‘secular’
and ‘socialist’ Bangalee identity, which reflected in the country’s adoption of the four-folded state
ideology – nationalism, democracy, socialism, and secularism (Hashmi, 2004, p. 35) and in the
ruling party’s wartime slogan ‘Joi Bangla’ [‘Victory to Bengal’] (Muhith, 1978). Mohsin (2003,
p. 98) calls it the ‘Bengali model of nationhood’.
Since independence, the identification of Bangalee/Bangladeshi nationalism has evolved with
the rise of a number of nationalist ideologies. An exclusionary nationalistic ideology largely
related to religious and territorial integrity surfaced with the emergence of the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party formed and led by Ziaur Rahman after the military coup following the assas-
sination of President Sheikh Mujib in 1975 (Hashmi, 2004; Mohsin, 2003). This ideology of
Bangladeshi nationalism viewed the Bangladeshi people as Islam oriented and distinct as opposed
to the more liberal Bangalee identity preached by the Awami League ideology (Hashmi, 2004).
It was based on another four-pronged ideology – land, language, culture, and religion (Mohsin,
2003). These two ideologies – the ‘socialist-secular-Bengali nationalist’ and the ‘Islam-oriented
Bangladeshi nationalist’ – were the main driving forces in shaping an independent Bangladeshi
nationalism. Later, after the assassination of President Zia in 1981, the military government
of President Hussein Mohammad Ershad held on to the ‘Bangladeshi model of nationhood’
(Mohsin, 2003, p. 98). The framework in this chapter, then, shows how ‘complementarity’ in
Bangladeshi language-in-education planning may be achieved by creating a harmonious position
for the different languages in the country.
Language-in-education planning as a balancing act: The framework

The framework discussed in this chapter combines principles of language policy as a ‘balancing
act’ (Rappa & Wee, 2006) with the ‘language as resource’ orientation (Ruíz, 1984). The model is
based on the principle that language policies are part of a complex web of “linguistic and non-
linguistic elements, variables and factors” (Spolsky, 2004, p. 41). Upon analysis of the language
policy context in Bangladesh, it proposes that an inclusive language policy should be aimed at
viewing languages as socio-cultural resources upholding national and cultural identities of their
speakers along with emphasising the instrumental values of the languages.With this objective, the
framework aims at achieving a level of ‘complementarity’ among three elements – national unity,
ethnolinguistic diversity, and socio-economic opportunity – by proposing a harmonious coex-
istence among the languages of wider communication (e.g. Bangla and English in Bangladesh)
in education. In the model proposed for language-in-education planning in Bangladesh in this
chapter, the concept of national unity is represented as the ‘non-instrumental’ element and socio-
economic opportunity as the ‘instrumental’ element. In order to explain the connection between
these components of the framework, the resource aspect of language will be discussed below
to justify the rationale for adopting the ‘balancing act’ approach to develop the framework for
language-in-education planning in Bangladesh.
As the questions of uniformity and diversity are the focal ones in the discussion of the com-
plexities of identities of groups such as nations, language plays a powerful role in defining and
characterising such identities. In particular, in the history of human civilisation, language has
been crucial in shaping group identities such as identities of nations. Three orientations to
this interplay between language and society may be highlighted here – ‘language-as-problem’,
37
Tania Rahman
‘language-as-right’, and ‘language-as-resource’. According to the ‘language-as-problem’ orienta-

tion, linguistic diversity is viewed as problematic and an obstacle to national unity. In this per-
spective, language is sometimes considered as a ‘political problem’ maintaining that “perpetuating
language minorities and language diversity may cause less integration, less cohesiveness, more
antagonism and more conflict in society which is to be solved by assimilation into the majority
language” (Baker, 2006, p. 384). The ‘language-as-right perspective’, on the other hand, views
language as one of the basic human rights and calls for state protection of the minority languages
when they are at stake (e.g. Skutnabb-Kangas, 1988, 2000; Skutnabb-Kangas & Phillipson, 1995).
Such a protectionist stand, however, may cause strain to ethnolinguistic divisions as it demands
share of limited national resources on ethnolinguistic grounds. In contrast to these perspectives,
the ‘language-as-resource’ perspective views the value of languages as resources in the society in
a number of ways.
First, the ‘language-as-resource’ perspective highlights the symbolic value of language, which
rests in its ‘representative’ function (Joseph, 2004) determining the identity of the ‘self ’ as well as
marking ‘group membership’ (Armstrong, 1982; Heller, 1987; Tabouret-Keller, 1997). Second, in
materialist terms, language can be viewed as a sort of ‘capital’ (Bourdieu, 1991, 1986, 1984). In
Bourdieu’s theory, capital as a source of influence in a social context can be in many forms: eco-
nomic, cultural, social, and so on. Bourdieu (1984) conceives of the ‘cultural capital’ as providing
the means to accumulate ‘wealth’. While the economic capital can give access to a number of
resources, the ‘social capital’ (Bourdieu, 1986) opens the door to social networks. The different
forms of capital are also interconnected. For example, the command of the appropriate language
or ‘symbolic capital’ in the acquisition of ‘cultural capital’ during academic education can give
access to restricted social networks, that is, ‘social capital’ which, in turn, may open doors to eco-
nomic opportunities.Third, besides its ‘economic bridge building potential’ (Baker, 2006, p. 391),
the ‘language-as-resource’ perspective sees languages as having the potential to ‘bridge’ the social
gap between various communities (Baker, 2006, p. 391) and influence social relationships by
allowing intercultural communication. In this sense, the languages can be ‘assets’, not only for
individuals but also for groups to “aid individual participation in public, leisure and private lives”
(Baker, 2006, p. 390). Finally, linguistic diversity is generally associated with ‘national or regional
disunity’ and ‘inter-group conflict’ (Baker, 2007, p. 186). However, the ‘language-as-resource’ per-
spective (Ruiz, 1984) holds that ‘linguistic diversity’ is responsible for neither division nor lesser
cohesion in a society. Instead, promotion of linguistic diversity can foster a balanced atmosphere
of tolerance, cooperation, and harmony among speakers of different linguistic as well as speech
communities, whereas its suppression may disrupt the balance.
For achieving ‘complementarity’ among the languages in a developing nation as Bangladesh,
identity is a significant issue to be considered. In societies where linguistic homogeneity is the
widespread norm (such as in Bangladesh where 98% or 100 million people (Hossain & Tollefson,
2007, p. 242) speak the same language, Bangla), linguistic diversity is likely to be viewed as
causing strife in national unity. A balanced language policy and planning, therefore, needs to
address these constraints.
In order to propose a balanced language policy and planning for Bangladesh, it is, at first,
important to consider various perspectives in the discussions of language policy and planning. Just
two decades before the new millennium, particularly since the 1980s, several models have been
propounded to address various issues in regards to developing nations separately. Among them,
three have been the major stances in the study of language planning and policy. According to
one of the views, in a society, the group in power dominates over others by exercising power and
hegemony, and the language preferred by or of the powerful group thrives over other languages
as a result of the hegemonic practices (Tollefson, 1991). The next perspective considers the right
38
to use a language as a basic human right, and holds on to the belief that ‘linguistic genocide’
occurs because the dominant or majority languages are preferred over dominated or minority
languages in all domains of language use; the minority language speakers face devaluation from
the majority language speakers, which leads towards ‘linguistic genocide’ (e.g. Skutnabb-Kangas
& Phillipson, 2008). Unlike these approaches, according to the instrumentalist view of language
policy, language is ‘a social and political resource’, and it proposes a utilitarian perspective of
language use (Spolsky, 2004). A reconciling position is sought by language planning as a ‘balan-
cing act’ approach (Rappa & Wee, 2006), which addresses the need for taking constraints into
account in analysing language planning. According to this view, three different relations in lan-
guage policy analyses are found in language planning, specifically in Asia (Rappa & Wee, 2006),
where the elements of language policy and planning are either seen as ‘on par with another’
(equivalence), for example, language policy in Singapore, or in competition (displacement), for
example, policies regarding Malay and English in Malaysia, or in a ‘harmonious’ situation (com-
plementarity), for example, the bilingual policy in Singapore consisting of English as the language
of ‘Western science and technology’ and the mother tongues representing ‘ancient cultures and
values’ (p. 22).
An instrumentalist view of language planning considers that “much of current social life
is driven by economic demands” (Rappa & Wee, 2006, p. 129), and language uses as social
functions are also influenced by those demands. Such an approach presupposes a theory of power
recognising different forms of capital which have differentiated values, and of these capitals, “eco-
nomic capitals tend to wield greater influence than other capital” (Rappa & Wee, 2006, p. 129).
The theory of power inherent in this argument is taken forward in the instrumentalist defin-
ition of language-in-education planning as “a form of imposition and manipulation of language
policy as it is used by those in authority to turn ideology into practice through formal education”
(Shohamy, 2006, p. 76). In all these instrumentalist arguments, the utilitarian values of a language
are emphasised over its symbolic values overshadowing its significance in representation of cul-
ture and identity. However, the instrumentalist view seems to be questionable for two reasons.
First, by emphasising utilitarian values over other aspects of a language, the view mostly overlooks
its symbolic value of representing identity. Second, when ethnicity is viewed solely as an instru-
mental resource the differences in power relations are not adequately addressed.
On the other hand, since the education sector is considered to be ‘the transmitter and per-
petuator of culture’ (Kaplan & Baldauf, 1997, p. 123), language-in-education planning activities
are capable of representing cultural diversity, for example, through mother tongue-based bi-/
multilingual education in societies where linguistic diversity is the norm (Baker, 2007, p. 187).
The bilingual language-in-education policy in Singapore, for instance, includes mother tongue
instruction for the Chinese, Malay, and Indian communities in Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil
languages, respectively, besides receiving education in English.
Language planning as a ‘balancing act’ (Rappa & Wee, 2006) addresses both instrumentalist and
non-instrumentalist functions of language. The instrumentalist function of language “justifies its
existence in a community in terms of its usefulness in achieving specific utilitarian goals such
as economic development, access to social goods, or facilitating inter-ethnic communication”
(Rappa & Wee, 2006, p. 24). On the contrary, the non-instrumental function of the language
entails that it “is viewed non-instrumentally to the extent that it is seen as forming an integral
part of one’s ethnic or cultural identity, and if its existence in a community is justified in terms of
its symbolic value in allowing the community members to maintain a sense of identity” (Rappa
& Wee, 2006, p. 24). Such a view regards ‘linguistic instrumentalism’ as ‘gradient’ rather than
‘absolute’, that is, “a language may gradually acquire greater degrees of linguistic instrumentalism
as over time, its value in performing various utilitarian functions may come to overshadow its
39
Tania Rahman
role in sustaining cultural identities” (Rappa & Wee, 2006, p. 24). The utilitarian functions of
languages may range from facilitating inter-ethnic communication to gaining access to education
and employment.
Therefore, language-in-education planning can be instrumental in realising how certain
ideologies can create conflicts in relation to national/ethnic identities as well as how the conflicts
can be managed. Language-in-education policies favouring assimilation are often based on the
contention that linguistic diversity is responsible for causing ‘social unrest or disintegration in
society’, and therefore promotion of different languages and ethnic diversity ‘might provoke
group conflict and disharmony’ (Baker, 2007, p. 187). This assumption has been countered in
pluralist policies that consider linguistic diversity as a resource rather than a problem to society
and reflect the belief that it leads to ‘better integration, harmony and social peace’ (Baker, 2007,
p. 187). It is on the basis of this argument that linguistic diversity is seen as providing the eco-
nomic, social, and civic resources in a multicultural society rather than leading to social strife. In
addition, pluralist language-in-education policies may actually manage resistance to authority in
developing an inclusive education policy. By arguing for the potential of representation of ethno-
linguistic identities as well as opening doors to economic opportunities through the mother
tongue, the pluralist policies can also convince minority group members for working towards
integrating with the nation, which could be initiated through a balanced bi-/multilingual educa-
tion policy and planning. In this way, bilingual language-in-education policies can be a ‘balancing
act’ by managing resistance from all quarters.
In language-in-education planning, questions related to MoI involve the choices or selections
of languages as the MoI in the early years of education based on decisions regarding whether
the mother tongue of the children should be the main MoI, and if mother tongue should be
the primary MoI, for how long a child should be educated in the mother tongue as the pri-
mary MoI in the course of education. Language-in-education planning in Bangladesh has
been problematic due to the dissention among various quarters of academics regarding the
MoI at different levels of educational institutions. One group of policymakers advocated for
English as the MoI for its association with upward mobility in the social ladder. Another
group held English as alien to the national and ethnolinguistic identity of the Bangla-speaking
majority and advocated for Bangla as the MoI based on the reasoning that education offered
in Bangla can provide “reasonable opportunity for all students to acquire subject-matter know-
ledge, as well as permitting instruction in English as a foreign language” (Hossain, 2004).
Finally, acknowledging both the importance of English for progress and the possible threat of
its harnessing ‘serious inequalities’ among the people, the third group supports a sequentially
bilingual education, which introduces Bangla-medium instruction in primary grades, grad-
ually shifts to English at the high-school level, and culminates in English-medium instruction
in tertiary levels. The instrumental and non-instrumental roles of languages, however, have
not been considered together so far in deciding the language of education in Bangladesh. The
MoI debate in language-in-education policies since independence gave rise to three types
of instruction in the mainstream education in Bangladesh, differentiated according to lan-
guage and religion: Bangla medium, English medium, and Madrasah or religious instruction
for Muslims (Hossain & Tollefson, 2007, p. 251). In Bangla-medium schools, in both public
and private sectors, all courses except English and religious studies are offered in Bangla. The
‘private’ English-medium schools, on the contrary, use a UK-based ‘globalised curriculum’
and more resources than the lesser resourced public- or government-funded Bangla-medium
schools (Imam, 2005).
In Bangladesh, the emphasis on Bangla as the MoI in language-in-education policies since
independence, besides the nationalist ideology, largely owes to the fact that a huge portion of the
40
Figure 3.1 An integrative model of language-in-education planning in Bangladesh
country’s population comprises the Bangla-speaking Bangalee community.Therefore, the ‘widely

accepted communal solution’ to the question of selecting the MoI has been to choose Bangla
over other languages in the country. In so doing, language-in-education planning activities in the
country have actually embodied the prevalent ideology viewing ‘linguistic unity’ as ‘the societal
norm’ that represents national identity as opposed to ‘the reality of linguistic diversity’ (Kaplan
& Baldauf, 1997, p. 123).
The components of the framework – national unity, ethnolinguistic identity, and socio-
economic opportunities – as presented at the beginning of this chapter, are shown in Figure 3.1
represented by the use of the languages in Bangladesh in its education sector. The framework
presents a language-in-education policy that will reconcile the conflict between Bangla and
English in Bangladesh in resolving issues between national and ethnolinguistic identity and socio-
economic gains. It advocates a ‘balancing act’ framework taking the view that linguistic human
rights must be respected while at the same time developing policies that allow the teaching of
mother tongue to the speakers, which effectively tips the balance towards nationalistic belonging
as well as opening up socio-economic opportunities for the people in Bangladesh.
Currently in Bangladesh, an effectively managed language-in-education planning is needed
since the current educational planning in the country is predominantly Bangla oriented. In con-
trast, the framework proposed here is bi-/multilingual. It proposes that the mother tongue(s)
need to be valued and taught at the primary level of education to the children of Bangladesh.
English as the second language for these children and MoI may be introduced at a later level. In
this way, by developing literacy skills in their mother tongue(s) first, the people in Bangladesh will
be able to retain and represent their respective ethnic identities as well as participate in the main-
stream society as Bangladeshi nationals. In addition, by learning the national language Bangla and
41
Tania Rahman
then the international language English, they can increase their potential as human resources by
gaining access to economic opportunities such as mainstream education and employment.
The need for English and English education for Bangladeshi nationals is manifold for various
reasons. First, we need to communicate in English to conduct business with foreigners. Second,
the importance of English in our education and students’ lives is undeniable since English remains
a major MoI in English-medium schools and most of the tertiary-level books are written in
English. English is also needed for going abroad for higher education. If Bangladeshi students
have poor command over English, it may cause difficulty for them to adjust with the alien
environment abroad. Moreover, admission procedures in foreign universities nowadays require
certificates and transcripts to be written in English. So, without academic records written in
English, admissions in foreign universities become impossible for our students.
Hence, in Bangladesh, a language-in-education planning needs to link ethnolinguistic iden-
tity with the concept of an ‘inclusive’ Bangladeshi nationalism. A mother tongue-based bi-/
multilingual education planning in the country involving the mother tongue(s) of the people,
the national language Bangla, and the international language English can integrate the three-
fold purposes of ethnolinguistic identity maintenance, national identity construction, and socio-
economic development by means of human resource development. In this way, by providing a
harmonious combination of the mother tongue(s), the national language Bangla, and the inter-
national language English in the domain of education, the balancing act framework serves to
present the languages in a complementary relation. Instead of competing with each other, the
languages will complement each other, with the mother tongue(s) symbolising the ethnolin-
guistic identities, Bangla representing Bangladeshi nationalism, and both Bangla and English
providing the key to socio-economic opportunities.
Conclusion
The resource perspective of linguistic diversity in the language-in-education planning framework
shows significant implications for the role of language planning activities in economic develop-
ment and national/ethnic identity maintenance. It considers languages as having instrumental
value besides sentimental attachments. Such an orientation makes room for considering the
potentials of languages in national resource management.The challenge facing language planning
in achieving the goal of identity maintenance is to carry the economic value of languages beyond
their cultural values to a point where access to different languages opens the door to economic
opportunities by allowing access to the ‘linguistic market’ (Bourdieu, 1991). Effective education
and teaching in languages can be a starting point to achieve this purpose. For this, language, iden-
tity, and economic realities need to be integrated into a coherent language planning tool, utilising
comparative advantages of local culture facing competition in the linguistic market.
The framework is based on the argument for a sequential transition from a mother tongue-
based MoI to the second language-based MoI without disrupting competence in the mother
tongue (Baker, 2006). ‘Strong’ forms of bi-/multilingual education initiatives involving mother
tongues besides the dominant second languages enhance achievements such as “maintaining the
home language and culture”, and “fostering self-esteem, self-identity and a more positive attitude
to schooling” (Baker, 2007, p. 187). Such improved attainments are said to “enable better usage of
human resources in a country’s economy and less wastage of talent” and the increased self-esteem
is expected to be related to greater ‘social harmony and peace’ (Baker, 2007 p. 187).
Therefore, it can be said that linguistic diversity and bi-/multilingual education involving the
teaching of more than one language as macro-level language-in-education planning activities
can yield positive outcomes for language planning in even monolingual societies. Considering
42
dominant attitudes towards linguistic diversity and bi-/multilingual education in the society,
all sites of resistance can be managed if the prospects of a sequentially bi-/multilingual educa-
tion system are viewed from a twin perspective. First of all, such educational practices should
promote self-control and self-identity of the language speaking group within broader national
identity and practices. Second, such initiatives should be regarded as resource-generating activ-
ities by engaging in human resource development through the use of languages to gain access to
restricted social networks to lead to economic opportunities. To make this possible, there is the
need for a gradual replacement of the dominant language-as-problem attitude by the language-
as-resource perspective viewing bi-/multilingualism as a resource in language-planning activities.
The National Education Policy of 2010 in Bangladesh re-recognises the need for education
in English to develop a “strong and progressive knowledge-based and information technology-
oriented society” (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014, p. 12). The policy further recommended for
emphasising written and spoken skills of Bangladeshi students in English even at the very early
stages of education and to continue the training till higher levels. The Policy also has provisions
for schools to opt for English as a MoI at the secondary level. At this point, the transition to
English-medium instruction should start earlier than the secondary school level, may be at the
junior school level, as indicated earlier in the Qudrat-E-Khuda Commission Report of 1974,
offering English-medium instruction for two subjects at the beginning, then gradually extending
English-medium instruction to three, four, and more subjects in the later years of schooling. Such
sequential transition from Bangla- to English-medium instruction for all schools in Bangladesh
would enable all students in Bangladesh to access knowledge and develop skills in English and
contribute to the national economy as potential human resources skilled in English for the
nation. For implementing language-in-education planning as a balancing act in Bangladesh, the
debate on MoI concerning Bangla or English as the language for providing education at schools,
colleges, and universities should be resolved on the very outset. Next, Bangla and English should
be used in a balanced way from school to university level. With this end in view, the initial years
of primary level of schooling for 5 years may be mainly provided in Bangla, with gradual devel-
opment of lexical, morphological, and syntactic structures of English as one of the main subjects
in Bangla-medium schools. Next, at the junior school level, some more subjects like mathematics,
science, social science, and geography may be gradually introduced in English – for example,
mathematics in Class VI, mathematics and science in Class VII, and mathematics, science, social
science, and geography in Class VIII. Finally, at the secondary and higher secondary levels, all
subjects except Bangla and religion may be introduced in English with the provision of Bangla
as a MoI for weaker students and for students who will not opt for formal university educa-
tion. Students with an aim to go for higher education should opt for English as the MoI at the
secondary and higher secondary levels. Technical and religious education should also have the
provisions or options for studying in either English or Bangla as the MoI to enable the students
choose their preferred MoI to access education according to their proficiency levels and needs.
Next, classroom instructions and textbooks at schools and colleges should be available in both
English and Bangla. The delivery of content, instructions, in-class peer-to-peer, and teacher–
student interactions may be conducted in English with the provision of occasional explanations
and feedback in Bangla. But code mixing should be avoided. In addition, approaches in teaching
both Bangla and English in Bangladeshi educational institutions need reformation. Equal
emphasis should be given in developing speaking and writing skills among students.
In order to bring about these changes, there is a need for a change in perspective towards
languages in Bangladesh which will view the roles of languages in Bangladesh as complemen-
tary, but not equivalent. In doing so, Bangla and other languages need to be seen as symbolising
Bangladeshi culture and heritage, which emphasises the symbolic, social, cultural, and instrumental
43
Tania Rahman
value of the languages. English needs to be seen as the language of access to global commerce,
science, and technology, emphasising the instrumental value of the language for progress and
connection to the world. Therefore, to implement language-in-education planning as a balancing
act, debates such as which language we should choose to teach our children and conflicting ideolo-
gies in relation to English, Bangla, and other languages in Bangladesh need to be resolved soon.
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4
CONFLUENCE OF INFLUENCES
SHAPING ELT IN BANGLADESH
Introduction
One might wonder by observing current English language teaching (ELT) situation in
Bangladesh, how it began and how it has evolved and what principles and ideologies have
contributed towards its development.The state of ELT, curricula, textbooks, and classroom meth-
odologies as we experience in Bangladesh today are the outcome of the confluence of influences
originating outside the country, and also those growing from within. It was a process of evo-
lution and adaptation during different historical, political, and economic eras, and the language
teaching-learning practices in the country are still going through the adjustment processes. This
chapter reviews the major influences that the pre- and post-independent Bangladesh has been
exposed to for centuries and the situation we have arrived at. As the language ideologies and
practices evolve continually, they teach us that we cannot undo the past, nor can we ignore our
present realities. Such historical analysis of pedagogic situations is necessary to understand pre-
sent perspectives and future directions of ELT in Bangladesh. The chapter will not only review
historical development of ELT in Bangladesh but also focus on teaching practices resulting from
influences from abroad.
Historical background
On 31 December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I granted a charter to 300 merchants in London, who
formed a joint stock company called The East India Company (EIC), giving them a monopoly of
trade with India (Kachru, 1983, p. 19). The first trading mission of EIC arrived in Surat in 1603
and established a factory there. Until 1690, trade up to Hugli was in the care of this factory. In
1690, Job Charnock founded Calcutta as a commercial settlement.
From 1614, foreign missionaries started to come to this part of the world, and they came
with the ‘holy’ mission of converting the native Indians to Christianity. However, EIC officials
were more anxious about their own survival rather than proselyting Indians. They wanted
to avoid doing anything that would antagonise the local population and risk their lives and
trade interests (Chaudhary, 2009, p. 305). So, in 1765, there was a prohibition on transporting
church officials or preachers in EIC ships (Ibid). However, in 1773, William Carey arrived
46
Confluence of influences shaping ELT
in India defying EIC’s ban, in a Danish ship, and established the Baptist Mission College
at Serampore, a Danish settlement near Calcutta (Banerjee et al., 1957, p. 13). His Persian
pamphlet arguing the superiority of Christianity over Islam was seized by Danish author-
ities under pressure from the British in Calcutta (Banerjee et al., 1957, p. 13). However,
the foundations of British rule in India were laid in a mock battle that took place on 23
June 1757 at a place called Plassey, about 150 kilometres north of Calcutta, and Siraj-ud-
daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal was defeated through the treachery of his
general Mir Jafar Ali Khan and others who joined him in the conspiracy. The Nawab’s
Army, under the command of Mir Jafar Ali Khan, assembled their troops near the battle-
field, but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-daulah’s Army with 18,000
soldiers was defeated by 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-
daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators.
British victory led by Robert Clive at Plassey in Bengal was a crucial event in the history of
India. The EIC gradually spread its influence on local merchants and a large volume of trade
was transacted between Britain and Bengal. Knowledge of English became essential between
trading partners in Bengal. As a result, there was a growing demand for learning English in
certain sections of the community. In 1792, Sir Charles Grant, a member of the Board of
Directors of The EIC, wanted to introduce English in education and official business, but it did
not gain support from others (Musa, 1997, p. 9). In 1800, Fort William College was established
in Calcutta to train Company officials in Indian vernaculars, laws, and customs (Musa, 1997,
p. 9). In 1872, Mr. Wilberforce, another Director, wanted to add two clauses to the Charter
Act for sending out school teachers to India, but the proposal was withdrawn due to lack of
support (Musa, 1997, p. 9).
In 1774, demand for English among Indians, especially Bengalis rose when the Supreme Court
was established in Calcutta. This court required a number of interpreters, clerks, copyists, and
agents. There was a dearth of teachers capable of teaching English to natives. The first teachers
turned out to be Eurasians, Armenians, and English-speaking adventurers living in Calcutta.
Indians who knew English also had a lucrative job. Hundreds of Indians wanted to learn this lan-
guage all of a sudden. However, an adequate number of teachers, books, and learning materials
were not still available. Indians bought any book that they thought would be helpful for learning
English. Most of the materials were bilingual word lists and grammar manuals. Among such
materials were:
1. A Guide to the English Proper for Beginners, Showing a Natural and Easy Method to Pronounce and
Express both Common Words and Proper Names in which particular Care is Taken to Show the Accent
for Vicious Pronunciation – Thomas Dyches, The Danish Mission, Calcutta, 1716.
2. Vocabulary in Two Parts: English and Bengalee and Vice Versa – Calcutta, 1779.
3. An English Bengali Vocabulary together with Grammatical Introduction – Calcutta, 1788.
4. The Tutor, or a New English & Bengali Work, well Adapted to Teach the Natives English – John
Miller, 1797.
These books were sold in thousands of copies and the principal buyers were young people
aspiring to work as interpreters, clerks, copyists, and agents. There was a great demand of schools
for learning English. A Scottish adventurer named Drummond started his school. Indian learners
also went to schools started by Eurasians and Armenians.
Among such teachers, Alexander Duff became well known for his methods and materials. He
became so popular that soon he had 300 pupils spending 6 hours daily in his school. His Eurasian
47
assistants and himself taught the learners all day. Students learnt some English and used it out-
side the school every day. However, the pressure of admission seekers far exceeded his capacity
which, soon, led some older students of Duff extending their helping hands to him as assistants
and monitors (Smith, 2003, pp. 432–71).
In 1780, the Calcutta Madrasa was established by Warren Hastings at the request of Muslim
religious leaders. In 1791, the Sanskrit College of Benares was founded for the study of Hindu
law and philosophy. A similar attempt to establish a Sanskrit college in Calcutta in 1816 was
opposed by the elites of Calcutta. Protesting plans to spend money on oriental education, Raja
Ram Mohan Roy, in a letter to Lord Amherst, wrote:
We are filled with sanguine hope that the sum would be laid out in European
gentlemen of talent and education to instruct the natives of India in Mathematics,
Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Anatomy and other useful sciences which the nations
of Europe have carried to a degree of perfection. We find that the Government are
establishing a Sanskrit school under Hindu pundits to impart the same knowledge as
is current in India.
(Bannejee et al., 1957, p. 14)
Maculay’s Education Minutes were passed on 2 February 1835 in spite of opposition from
orientalists who termed the motion as ‘hasty and indiscreet’. The Minutes on language said:
it seems to be admitted that the intellectual improvement of those classes of people who
have the means of pursuing higher education can at present be effected by means of
some language not vernacular amongst them. … What shall the language be? … Which
language is the best worth knowing? It is impossible for us with our limited means to
attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a
class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals
and in intellect. To that class we may leave to refine vernacular dialects and to render
them fit vehicles for conveying western knowledge.
(Banerjee et al., 1957, p. 22)
In 1837, Persian was replaced by English as the official language of law courts and in 1844, a deci-
sion was taken to establish universities at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.The University of Dhaka
was established in 1921. Dr Michael West, Principal of Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka, (then
spelled Dacca), was made Hon. Reader in Education, Dhaka University. In 1926, the outcome
of his research, Bilingualism with Special Reference to Bengal, was published as Occasional Reports
No. 13 in Calcutta by the Central Publication Branch of the Government of India for Bureau of
Education. It was dedicated to Sir Philip Hartog, the first Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University.
First major influence

On joining Indian Education Service, Dr Michel West was first assigned to David Hare [Teachers’]
Training College in Calcutta. In 1913, he was transferred to Teachers’ Training College, Dhaka,
East Bengal as Principal of the college. He was also given the responsibility of conducting a
survey of primary education in Bengal. In this capacity, he visited numerous schools in 1919. As
a colonial educator in Bengal for a period of 20 years, Dr West developed insights into teaching
English in very difficult circumstances. His emphasis on the importance of reading was the result
48
of his scepticism to teach oral English by teachers in Bengal, who were neither fluent speakers
of English nor competent to teach oral communication. Pupils would spend about 10 hours a
week on learning English, yet the results were extremely poor. Even in the matriculation classes,
the results were unsatisfactory.Very few pupils had any real reading ability in English.They could
speak only a few disjointed sentences and write very slowly and laboriously. An attempt to intro-
duce the Direct Method failed because it asked too much of the teacher (West, 1926, p. 16).
A similar situation was depicted as the result of a survey carried out by Calcutta University
Commission of 1919 on a large number of respondents studying at the university. All of them
were taught in English at the university and its affiliated colleges. Most of them were concerned
that matriculating students had insufficient English for academic purposes (Smith, 2003, p. X).
West, in his testimony on the matter (Calcutta University Commission, 1919, pp. 502–504, cited
in Smith, 2003), argued that he was not in favour of giving too much emphasis on English at the
expense of the mother tongue. At the same time, he was keen to improve English instruction for
all pupils, not just the privileged elite.
The usual method of teaching English that he observed in the classrooms in Bengal is portrayed
in the following account:
• The boy is set a certain passage of the English Reader to ‘prepare’. It means that he must be
able to read the passage and translate it into Bangla. The preparation is done with the help of
an aid or an elder brother. The teacher sometimes goes through a new passage giving Bangla
equivalents.
• The teacher calls on a boy to read.The boy goes on reading for a long time.There is no quick
change of reader so as to keep the class awake.
• The teacher very often stands opposite the boy reading and pays little attention to the rest of
the class. He never interrupts the reading with questions. When the reading is finished, the
teacher calls on the same boy (sometimes another boy) to ‘expound’. To ‘expound’ means
word for word translation into Bangla.
(Smith, 2003, pp. XI–XII)
West thought that the focus on spoken language of the Direct Method was wasteful, while a
focus on reading could provide pupils an immediate reward in the form of development of
reading ability in a second/foreign language. The second language must enable a child to read.
The objective was to discover a means of producing efficient silent reading ability in a foreign
language and of doing this with minimum expenditure of time and effort. Research on the
matter led to the following realities and recommendations at that time:
• It was found that as little as 16 hours of specially designed practice in English reading sufficed
to produce the adult type of reading in 17-year-old Bangla students who had previously
shown only the childish type of word-by-word reading.
• It was further observed that although practice had been in English only, an equal (or larger)
improvement took place in the rate of reading in the mother tongue. Thus, reading ability
seems to be a thing independent of languages.
• The student must be able to read easily and quickly so that his mind may spring at once from
the foreign words to the ideas without the intervention of the mother tongue. Further, the
matter of the reading book must be of interest.
• In devising a system for teaching the reading of a foreign language, we have therefore to dis-
cover a method of producing books corresponding in point of subject and difficulty of ideas
49
to the age of the foreign child, yet written in a vocabulary which is, in point of number of
words, the equivalent to that of a native child 6–10 years younger.
• The problem is solved by building up from the start so that the less words the boy knows,
the more common (therefore more useful) those words are. The relative commonness
of various English words is shown by certain ‘Word-frequency lists’. By the use of these
lists, it is possible to construct a vocabulary of maximum usefulness at any given stage of
progress.
• It is found possible given a fixed standard vocabulary of a few thousand words, reason-
ably well selected along these lines, to rewrite almost any ordinary material of a non-
technical nature so that all the words used may be within the standard vocabulary. Thus,
an ordinary novel can be kept within a 5,000 word vocabulary, and with a little effort or
editing most of the simpler books could be kept within 3,000. Any ordinary fairy story can
be written within 300–500 words, a vocabulary which can be learnt in less than a year’s
work. (West, 1926)
As a result of his research, Dr West developed what came to be known as The Reading Method.
The method depended on simplified readers progressing from one level of difficulty to a more
difficult one, thus gaining more and more speed and proficiency in reading English. Features of
the New Method Series Readers were based on vocabulary limitations, structure control, and
recycling of vocabulary items. The original Grade 1 readers began with fables, went on to short
animal stories, and ended with longer and more complicated fairy tales.
The New Method Series Readers became commercially more successful in other parts of
India (and outside India) than in Bengal, contrary to his expectations. By 1928, West’s readers
were in use in Ceylon, Palestine, Persia, Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. However, the success of
the New Method series brought him misfortune too. The colonial education authorities were
unhappy about his earnings from the books and using the TTC to train teachers to use them.
Eventually, he was transferred to Islamia College, Calcutta. He resigned from his post as Principal
of Dhaka TTC on 30 April 1932 and returned to England, where he continued to contribute to
the development of ELT as long as he lived.
Second major influence

After the partition of British India in 1947 and emergence of India and Pakistan, the old cur-
ricula of the colonial days continued for a period of time. Grammar Translation Method was at
its peak until educational reforms began to take place in the then East Pakistan. In 1955, The
Alternative Syllabus in English for Classes VI, VII & VII was prepared by Ronald Mackin for East
Pakistan School Textbook Board. It was a time when the Structural-Situational Approach was the
most favoured approach to language teaching among British educators. The Alternative Syllabus
was a perfect example of structural syllabuses that were prepared at the time. It had a very careful
selection of grammatical structures of English along with lists of vocabulary items that could be
used in situational contexts. For example:
Graded Structures
1. This This is John. That is Ahmad
That This is Ahmad That is John.
is This is Mary. That is Mary.
Vocabulary, unit 1: names of pupils.
50
2. my This is my arm.
This is your arm.
(see 4 below)
3. his a) This is her ….
This is his ….
This my ….
That is her….
That is his ….
That is my….
b) This is his name.
c) His name is Ahmad.
His name is John.
Her name is Rashida.
(for vocabulary see 4 below)
4. ’s This is Ahmad.
This is his book. This is Ahmad’s book.
This is John’s book.
Vocabulary, units 2, 3 and 4.
A. arm finger lip
back foot mouth
ear hand tooth
eye head nose
face leg tongue
(The Alternative Syllabus, p. 2)
New textbooks were written in which the structures were contextualised and tasks and activities
were designed to give practice to learners in using the structures and vocabulary items. There
were extensive in-service trainings of teachers of English and attempts were made to increase the
oral proficiency of teachers so that they could use an oral-aural approach to teaching. On the
whole, it can be said that the new approach was reasonably well adopted by teachers and students.
Third major influence

After the birth of Bangladesh as an independent nation in 1971, necessity was felt to reform
the education system to fulfil the aspirations of the new nation. The curricula and syllabuses
of different levels of education also needed revision. In 1974, Dr Kudrat-i-Khuda Education
Commission Report was published and it recommended that English should be taught more
effectively. In 1975, an ELT Task Force was set up by the Ministry of Education to assess the
situation of English language education in Bangladesh and to suggest ways of improving it. The
major findings of the Task Force were:
• The English proficiency of students in class IX is at least 2 years behind the standard assumed
in their textbooks.
• The English proficiency of students in class XII is at least 4 years below the standard assumed
in their textbooks.
• The majority of students at secondary teacher training institutions (at least 70%) are not pro-
ficient in material beyond that used in class VII textbooks, yet they are expected to teach up
to class X.
51
• No more than 20% of students of Primary Training Institutes (PTIs) can be considered profi-
cient in material which they are supposed to teach in classes III–V.
• The levels of English proficiency are very low throughout the secondary and teacher training
levels. They indicate a desperate situation in ELT in Bangladesh.
• At all levels, there is a grave shortage of trained teachers of English.Teaching methods observed
were not conducive to effective learning.
• An appropriately graded syllabus should be introduced at each level and textbooks related to
the needs and capabilities of students should be prepared. (Bangladesh Education Extension
and Research Institute, 1976, pp. 1–3)
In 1976, National Curriculum and Syllabus Committee (NCSC) was formed to devise syllabuses for
different classes and separate committees were formed for each subject area. This was a time when
the functional-notional syllabus (Wilkins, 1976) and the Communicative Approach to Language
Teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) became vastly popular as a teaching approach all over the
world. The English Committee of NCSC adopted the Communicative Approach and mingled it
with a Structural Approach based on selection of lexis and structures laid out in English Grammatical
Structure by Alexander et al. (1975), which used a form of Chomskyan Transformational-Generative
Grammar notations, for example, NP + VP + NP, popular at that time. For example:
1. Sentence Patterns introduced in Stage 1

Number Structure Example
SP 1 NP 1 + be + NP 2, COMPLEMENT My name is Tom.
SP 2 NP + be + ADJ That pen is black.
SP 3 NP+ be +ADV-P He is in the garden.
SP 3a Here or There +PERS PRONOUN + be Here I am.
3b Here or There +be + any other NP There is the office.
3c There + be +NP + ADV-P There is a dog in the garden.
SP 4 NP1 + have + NP 2, OBJECT I have two brothers.
SP 5 NP + vi I am waiting. I understand …
(Alexander, Allen, Close, & O’Neill, 1975, p. 3)
Recommendations of NCSC were approved in 1978 and textbooks began to be written.The first
books for primary level came out in 1980 and teachers began to be trained to implement the new
curriculum. In order to boost the training of teachers, the ELT Improvement Project (ELTIP) was
undertaken by the Ministry of Education with assistance from DFID during 1997–2008. It aimed
to promote Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach at the secondary level. The cur-
riculum was made more communicative in approach and new textbooks were written.
The objectives of ELTIP were to:
• Continue the already introduced communicative English language methodology through
• a programme of in-service teacher training;
• developing appropriate teaching learning materials;
• reform initiatives in the examination system.
• Develop communicative competence in English among the secondary education learners.
• Introduce contextualised grammar teaching and learning.
• Monitor the teaching of trained teachers in classrooms.
Starting in 1998, ELTIP trained nearly 35,000 secondary school teachers throughout the country.
It contributed to the professional development of these teachers through carefully developed
52
training activities. The good work done by ELTIP is feared to have been wasted because discon-
tinuity of the programme after 2008 (Rahman, 2015 p. 69).
A new large-scale English language development programme called English in Action (EIA)
was initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2009 and came to an end in 2017 (for a review
of the projects, also see Qumrul & Erling, this volume). The target audience of the project
was 25 million learners – primary school teachers and students, secondary school teachers
and students, and adult learners. Its aim was to contribute to the economic development in
Bangladesh by providing the English language as a tool for better access to the world economy.
The project was funded by DfID and implemented by BMB Mott MacDonald in collabor-
ation with national and international partners, for example, Friends in Village Development in
Bangladesh (FIVDB), Underprivileged Children’s Educational Programme (UCEP), The Open
University, UK, and BBC Media Action.
A baseline was undertaken in August 2008 to examine the existing provision of training for
English language teachers in Bangladesh and adult learners. Some of the important findings of
the survey were:
• While the national curriculum stresses communicative use of English, this does not seem to
be effectively implemented as concerns have been expressed about the ability of students to
communicate in English. Also within the school system in Bangladesh, there is no formal
testing of oral or aural skills.
• There is little evidence of progression of language through government/NGO primary and
secondary schools. The results show no increase in English language ability that can be spe-
cifically tied to working through school grades.The levels of ability are not increasing year by
year, nor over a period of several years.
• Teachers too have a low level of competence in English. Teachers are teaching at higher
levels than their own ability in the language. Plus very few of them have adequate profes-
sional training. These two factors are crucial to the development of English language ability
in Bangladesh (Baseline Study 1).
• The pedagogic approach adopted in most lessons observed did not encourage a communi-
cative approach to learning English. Throughout the lessons, teaching from the blackboard
from the front of the class was the predominant pedagogic approach. As the lesson progressed,
teachers tended to read from the textbook, asked closed questions, or moved around the class-
room monitoring and facilitating students as they worked individually.
• The use of teaching aids (other than the textbook) was infrequently observed: 2–6% classes.
• Majority of teachers appeared to be fully or partially confident with the subject matter of the
lesson. There was little evidence of a lesson plan being used for guidance by most teachers –
only 14% did so ‘regularly’ or ‘occasionally’.
• In most of the schools, the teachers are using traditional book-oriented process of teaching.
They teach grammar and translation following the book without explaining the definitions
properly. Sometimes teachers use the blackboard to teach vocabulary.
• In almost two-thirds of classes, less than half of the students had opportunities to participate
actively in discussions or to answer questions: ‘none or hardly any’ in 14% of classes.
• Only a small proportion of students spoke in English during a lesson.Two-thirds of the classes
observed (68%) ‘none or hardly any’ spoke in English, while in 23% of classes only ‘some’
(<50%) had an opportunity to do so.
• In most classes, students were not interactive at all; rather they were very passive learners.
They were more interested in side talking and other activities. They were only participating
by answering the questions asked by the teachers. (Baseline Study 3).
53
Recent reports suggest that as a result of EIA efforts:
• 86% primary and 92% secondary school teachers show a significant shift towards the CLT
approach
• 95% teachers said EIA helped them to improve their own English.
(http://www.eibd.com/)
Expectations and realities

It was hoped that as a result of two major ELT projects undertaken by the Government of
Bangladesh with UK aid would enhance the skills and motivate teachers to become good ELT
practitioners, both at primary and secondary levels of education. It would also enable them to
practice principles of CLT in their classrooms. But a growing number of researches conducted
by ELT practitioners at home and abroad indicate that it has not happened.
It appears from a research conducted by EIA associates (Burton & Azim, 2014) that EIA
as a project has tried its level best to raise the level of English of teachers and their capability
of teaching English using the Communicative Approach through such means as face-to-face
training, providing video demonstrations of good teaching practices by Bangladeshi teachers
accompanied by relevant commentaries.
Research conducted by EIA associates shows that ELT scenario in Bangladesh, especially
classes taught by EIA trained teachers was changing. These classes were found to be more inter-
active; there was an increased interaction and communication between teachers and students and
among students themselves. Students were also found to be engaged in pair and group works.
Teachers also found to be working as facilitators, giving help and support to students, and not
giving lectures (http://www.eibd.com).
According to a recent publication documenting EIA experiences, EIA’s School Component is
“widely judged to be one of the most successful large-scale teacher development projects in low-to-
middle income countries” (Power, Eyres, & McCormick, 2019, pp. 1–2), reaching 43,000 primary
teachers (21% of the work force), 11,000 secondary school teachers, and 7 million school children.
Prior to EIA intervention, it has been pointed out that little English was to be heard in lessons that
were based on repetition, copying, translation, and memorisation.The lessons were teacher-dominated
and students played no active part in them (Woodward, Griffiths, & Solly, 2019, p. 111). But as result
of EIA intervention, during the lifetime of the project, the following positive changes were noted:
• Learners and teachers were using English frequently.

• Successful pair and group work were conducted by teachers.
• Grammar was taught as use, not knowledge.
• Teachers were involving students from the whole class.
• There was integration of reading, writing, speaking and listening.
(Power et al., 2015, pp. 123–124)
All of the above are commendable and showcases how successful EIA efforts have been in intro-
ducing the CLT approach to primary and secondary level teachers, but a few points may be noted:
• Neither ELTIP nor EIA was able to reach the whole population of English teachers at pri-
mary and secondary levels.
• During the lifetime of ELTP, positive changes were observed in the teaching of English at the
secondary level.
54
According to an in-house research conducted by ELTIP associates during the lifetime of the
project, the following were observed:
• Teachers felt more confident in teaching students.

• They were enjoying teaching because their students were more active and taking part in
lesson activities.
• Before ELTIP training, they used to teach using grammar-translation method and after the
training, they were doing it with pleasure.
• Before ELTIP training, they used to conduct lecture-based classes, but after ELTIP training,
they were using the Communicative Approach.
• Before ELTIP training, they did not use pair and group work, after ELTIP training, they were
found using them.
• Before ELTIP training teachers did not know how to use their English textbooks or the
Teachers’ Guide, after ELTIP training they were able to do so.
It is sad but true that in a vastly populated low-to-middle income country like Bangladesh, it
is difficult to sustain the benefits of educational projects beyond their lifetimes. ELTIP gained
success and was able to introduce changes, but these changes were not sustainable because of lack
of institutional support to continue the good work done. EIA, working in a wider perspective,
is also claimed to have achieved success in transforming teaching practices of teachers during
the project. But an independent investigation is needed to find out to what extent ELTIP- or
EIA-trained teachers are continuing to practice ideas and techniques learnt during training, and
if not, why not.
Current chaotic situation

Meanwhile, teachers and researchers investigating the teaching of English at various levels of
education in Bangladesh have portrayed the existence of a crisis situation in the field of ELT in
Bangladesh. It may be represented as follows:
a. In Bangladesh, grammar-translation method was prevalent until the 1990s. Since then,
Bangladesh has developed new curricula based on CLT (Hamid & Baldauf, 2008; Hasan,
2004; Imam, 2005).
b. It was expected that CLT would improve the standard of teaching English and lift the level
of learners learning English, but the proficiency level of learners has not improved satisfac-
torily (Hamid & Baldauf, 2008; Rahman, 1999; Roshid, 2009).
c. ELTIP and EIA were able to impart training to a certain percentage of students, but the vast
majority of teachers remained out of reach. If teachers are not properly oriented to the use
of CLT, they would not practice it (Hamid & Baldauf, 2008;; Roshid, 2009;Yasmin, 2009).
d. Even after a decade of the introduction of CLT, communication skills of students were
not observed to be improved. In spite of lessons on all four skills in textbooks, only the
skills of reading and writing were practiced and assessed in schools and school final exams
(Mazumder, 2013, pp. 104–105).
e. Class size and time available for teaching a class period were not found conducive to CLT.
Classes were large, seating 50–70 students. Class periods were of 40-minute duration, out
of which about 10 minutes were taken for settling down and roll call. Teachers were not
able to execute lessons successfully or to pay attention to all students during the remaining
30 minutes (Mazumder, 2013, p. 107).
55
f. Some topics in the textbooks were found to be irrelevant as they did not reflect their daily
lives and experiences (Mazumder, 2013, p. 109).
g. The application of CLT method has not resulted in desirable outcomes in Bangladesh
(Farhad, 2013, p. 289).Teachers were unable to teach effectively because of their poor English
language skills (Haider & Chowdhury, 2012, p. 13). Islam (2015) observed that teachers were
reluctant to promote CLT and avoided using CLT ideas in the classroom.
h. There also seems to be resistance among learners to the use of CLT. Some students responded
negatively to communicative activities, others were not confident about using them (Farhad,
2013, p. 289).
i. There are many constraints in the implementation of CLT in Bangladesh. The main obs-
tacle identified is the grammar-based examination system. It hinders attempts to be made by
teachers to adopt CLT in the classroom (Farhad, 2013, p. 289).
j. Neither ELTIP nor EIA undertook any major attempt to change the English examination
system in Bangladesh. As all public examinations from primary to higher secondary levels
are based on reading, writing, and grammar – all teaching done in the classroom are exam-
oriented. School authorities and parents are sensitive to the fact that exam requirements
are given importance. As listening, speaking, and communicative interaction are not tested
in these exams, they are not practiced in the classroom. The examination system needs to
be changed first before any major project may be undertaken to change curriculum and
pedagogy. This basic fact has been overlooked by education authorities and donor agencies
before embarking on large-scale projects like ELTIP or EIA (Rahman, 2015). It is like pla-
cing the carriage before the horse.
k. Attitudes of teachers towards change and their levels of confidence are also important factors
in bringing about changes in pedagogy. Most teachers undergoing training in such projects
are usually nominated by education authorities. They comply as they have to, it is also a
change from their daily routine and they usually get allowances for attending such training.
During training and supervised teaching, they show eagerness and some success in putting
training into practice. But adopting new techniques is not long-lasting. Once back to their
institutions, when not supervised by project personnel, they soon relapse into old practices
(Rahman, 2015).
l. Another problem is low level of English proficiency among teachers, more acute at pri-
mary and secondary levels. Since they are not fluent and confident in their use of English,
many of them refrain from using English in their classrooms (Ansarey, 2012; Arafat, Rupan,
& Imam, 2014).
m. The influence of traditional teaching methods is another obstacle to implement changes.
The essential characteristics of Bangladeshi students’ learning a language are memorisa-
tion and quantitative accumulation of knowledge (Ibid., 291). Teachers feel safe in propa-
gating such practices as they do not have to be creative or dynamic in following traditional
practices. Shahidullah (2002) reported that teachers did not want to use CLT as it required a
lot of preparation time. According to Rahman and Karim (2015, p. 85), Bangladeshi teachers
do not generally want to adopt CLT as it requires more hard work than GTM.
Major challenges identified by teachers and researchers may be summed up as follows:
• usually large class sizes and lack of resources needed for communicative teaching of English;
• lack of institutional and parental support, lack of supervision of teaching;
• shortage of skilled teachers and lack of adequate teacher training;
• lack of competence in English language skills and confidence among teachers;
56
• weak dissemination of CLT curriculum and lapses in change management;

• traditional tests and exams in use, existence of coaching centres and home tutors to prepare
students for exams; and
• lack of cooperation among different stake holders, especially between examination boards and
curriculum authorities.
Whither to go?
It may be surmised from the above that ELT situation in Bangladesh has constantly addressed lan-
guage teaching–learning crises. Teachers have been exposed to new methodologies and urged to
use them, but because of various infrastructural inadequacies, they are either unwilling or unable
to adopt them. Although attempts have been made to implant CLT through large-scale projects,
proper change-management principles have not been followed (Rahman, 2015).The use of CLT
in Bangladesh is perhaps written only in the curriculum, but there is no practical employment of
it (Abedin, Mojlis, & Akter, 2009; Ali & Walker, 2014). For instance,
ELTIP and EIA attempts proved to be futile in improving the situation, especially in rural pri-
mary schools with poorly trained teachers to implement the new ELT curriculum (Hoque et al.,
2018). In these circumstances, there may be a debate on where to go from here. My argument is
that we cannot perhaps go back to the practice of the grammar-translation method of the days
of the Raj on the plea that our teachers are ‘incapable’ of conducting interactive classes or that
the teaching-learning situations are not conducive enough for the communicative teaching of
English. Against the current global hegemony of English, our students will have to acquire neces-
sary language skills to communicate with the rest of the world.
Holliday (1994) argued that in order for foreign language instruction to be effective, it must
be relevant to the needs of the learners and appropriate to the reality of the particular school
context where it happens. He pointed out that the oral-based CLT and learner-centred approach
developed in Britain, Australia, and North America (BANA) may not work in the state sectors of
tertiary, secondary, and primary (TESP) contexts of non-BANA countries (Holliday, 1994, p. 5).
Language pedagogy to be relevant must be culturally sensitive and contextually appropriate.
Government policy with regard to ELT in Bangladesh has undergone changes at different
times (Sinha, 2006). Curricula have been revised, new textbooks written, and new approaches
and methods have been advocated.Teachers have been asked to move away from GTM and veer
towards CLT. Sinha also reveals that there exists a negative attitude among Bangladeshi teachers
towards CLT because demands have been made on them to change their habitual practices
and acquiring new techniques. It would not be possible to discard GTM from our educational
system. Therefore, with Sinha (2006) and Shahidullah (2002), among many others, I would
suggest a synthesis of GTM and CLT as a possible solution for the successes in the field of ELT
in Bangladesh.
Conclusion
We have seen how changes in socio-political situations and pedagogic approaches have influenced
materials, methods, and the teaching of English in our country. This is inevitable in a globally
connected world, but there is also the necessity to act locally and address problems and situations
unique to us. This is where the confluence of influences happens; we have to choose carefully
what suits us from the options available. We cannot dissociate ourselves from history, from what
went before. Nor can we ignore present realities, where we stand in terms of our capabilities and
resources. There is a need for pragmatism here.
57
It appears that there is a gap in communication between education authorities, teachers,

students, guardians, and other stakeholders in Bangladesh regarding the changes from traditional
teaching methods to CLT. Also, change management strategies had not been properly employed
(Mondal, 2012, p. 97). In case of a major shift in curricula and pedagogy, this aspect needs to be
taken care of.
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59
PART II
English language curriculum

reformation and pedagogical practice
5
STARTING FROM PRACTICE
A microanalysis of participants’ compliance
to de facto L2-only schooling in a Bangladeshi
ESL classroom
Rizwan-ul Huq
Introduction
In postcolonial, newly independent nations, English, as a second language of colonial origin,
shares a big share of global success. Although its use is often socially marginal, the presence,
popularity and continued growth of ESL schools1 are strongly visible in many regions around
the world. Bangladesh is no exception to this growing, global trend and there is a range of
opportunities available for seekers of such mode of education. However, a cautious reading
of the latest National Education Policy (Ministry of Education, 2010) as well as other government
policy documents (e.g. Ministry of Planning, 2015) offers an impression that there is a tendency
to evade the responsibility of offering any policy – in terms of the organisational framework as
well as the language policy – of this mode of education. This approach was critiqued as a ten-
dency to transfer the responsibility to private sector initiative to protect the space for national
language (Hamid, Nguyen, & Baldauf, 2013; Hossain & Tollefson, 2007; Rahman, 2010; see also
Hamid, 2010).
The current National Education Policy (Ministry of Education, 2010), for instance, does not
address the presence of ESL schools in primary compulsory education (Grades 1–5).The presence
and role of English are only addressed in secondary mode of education (Grades 6–12) with a thin,
marginal guideline within the framework of policy for Bengali-medium schools. In this regard,
it comments: “At this level, the media of instruction will be Bangla, but as per the competence
of any educational institution, it may also be English” (Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 13). Given
the situation of the setting, it can hardly be a scholarly (or to an extent ethical) approach to advice
what ESL schools should do in their boundaries unless this matter is studied rigorously through
empirical science. In terms of language policy of ESL schools in Bangladesh, the lack of policy
address in the steering policy documents necessitates an obligation to study the de facto practices
of this mode of education.
Having said that, the concept of language policy, in this study, is perceived under spectrums
of three discrete, but interrelated, categories: (a) language policy as an issue of management,
(b) language policy as beliefs or ideology, and (c) language practices (Spolsky, 2004, 2005, 2017; see
also Bonacina, 2010; Bonacina, 2017). Under this classification, language management approach
perceives policy as an issue of text available in the form of documents in national, regional, or insti-
tutional levels (cf. language policy as text in Ball, 1993; see also de jure policy in Schiffman, 1996).
63
Rizwan-ul Huq
That is to say, the study of policy, from a management perspective, deals with the task of
offering suggestive guidelines for what language should be practiced in the field according to
the expectations of policy-makers, authorities, judicial rulings, governments, or international
organisations, etc.The policy as a belief or ideology approach offers to examine participants’ atti-
tude, perspective, thoughts, ideas, and other meta-issues in the forms of talks, interviews or other
methods of inquiry (cf. language policy as discourse in Ball, 1993). Such approach to language
policy studies participants’ perception on language policy offering how participants think about
a language or use of it. Last but not the least, the language practices approach deals with in situ
practices of participants’ interaction available in the form of observable-reportable patterns in and
through their actual, real-life practices (cf. de facto policy in Schiffman, 1996). To highlight the
empirical standing of language practices, Spolsky has argued:
The most realistic answer resides in language practices; look at what people do and not
at what they think they should do or at what someone else wants them to do. Language
management remains a dream until it is implemented, and its potential for implementation
depends in large measure on its congruity to the practices and ideology of the community.
(2005, p. 2161)
This language practices approach, which is of interest to the purpose of this current study, is
here used as a tool of inquiry to explore what participants actually do in the field. A benefit
of seeing language policy through the lens of practice, thus, is that it offers a know-how of
participants’ interpretations of the given policy. In this line of argument, this chapter also argues
that understanding what happens in the field is an authentic empirical concern and understanding
participants’ actual practices, manifested in the form of everyday, mundane talk-in-interaction, is
a necessity to explore the congruence between the given policy and the practice.
Interaction-oriented studies on language alternation

in policy-governed bilingual classrooms
Language alternation (i.e. any occurrence of two languages within the same conversation)
has been accessed and approached from various standpoints, i.e. the grammatical, the macro-
sociolinguistic, and the conversation analytic (CA) approach (Auer, 1984). In CA-based tradition,
a continued trend is to perceive such bilingual behaviours in terms of participants’ choice as
codes. It can be termed as an approach of “seeing language not as static ‘codes’ with solid bound-
aries but rather as fluid resources” (Lin, 2013, p. 196, see also Wei, 2005) in meaning-making pro-
cess. In this regard, Gafaranga (1999, 2000, 2007) and his colleagues (Gafaranga & Torras, 2001)
have argued a possible way to stipulate the distinction is available in the process of participants’
scheme of interpretation, i.e. the sui generis process of members’ approaches of dealing with such
practices on local basis. In so doing, instead of perceiving language alternation simply as a switch
or alternation between two co-available languages (i.e. the grammatical concept of language),
they perceived – on empirical grounds – language alternation as a switch between participants’
codes or mediums (Gafaranga, 2007). It has challenged the grammarian’s notion of language
alternation that participants would always speak in ‘A’ language and co-occurrences would only
happen between languages (as grammatical items).
Later on, this concept has been explored in terms of policy-governed classroom (Bonacina
& Gafaranga, 2011; Bonacina, 2010; Bonacina, 2017). In studying L2-only policy-governed
classrooms, Bonacina and Gafaranga (2011) have argued in favour of two sorts of mediums,
i.e. Medium of Instruction and Medium of Classroom Instruction. By the term Medium of
64
Microanalysis of participants’ compliance
Instruction, they meant the prescribed, expected, normative language policy of a given setting,
i.e. the policy expectation of what language participants should speak in a setting (cf. language
management approach in Spolsky, 2004, 2017). In their opinion, the medium of instruction
only holds true in those specific situations where real language practice is in absolute con-
gruence with the prescribed policy of the setting. In contrast, medium of classroom inter-
action, they have claimed, is the in-practice patterns of participants’ scheme of interpreting
the given language rule. In other words, the Medium of Classroom Interaction is the actual,
in-practice, oriented to code of participants. In studying a French complementary schooling
in British setting (pseudo-named La Colombe school), Bonacina and Gafaranga (2011) have
also observed three types of variations of these codes or mediums, i.e. (a) L2 base code with
L1 alterations, (b) L1 base code with L2 alterations, and (c) mix of both co-available languages.
In their view, the first two categories belonged to monolingual mediums where participants’
conversation would primarily be taken place in a language (either L1 or L2) with occasional
deviance to other language in contact. In case of monolingual medium, they have argued,
though language alternation has happened even within a monolingual order, the participants
have addressed those instances as repairable or non-repairable deviance. The concern of policy
breach of given policy, thus, is available through members’ approaches of treating occurrences
of language alternation. The bilingual medium, however, has hosted an intermingled bilingual
behaviour allowing co-available languages in a manner when it is analytically unfeasible to tell
what base code is used. In case of bilingual mode, the usage of language alternation is treated
as a normative choice. Thus, the orderliness of participants’ language is exclusively participants’
concern and they are free to use mediums on local basis subject to their own scheme of
interpretation.
A potential way of distinguishing participants’ approach of treating language practice as devi-
ance is through the acts of language policing (Amir, 2013), i.e. the act of noticing and correcting
(self- or other-) wrong use of language, and invoking interlocutor’s accountability. In an ESL
classroom in Swedish setting, Amir (2013) has shown the breach of given policy can be treated as
deviance in terms of members’ scheme of interpretation (i.e. participants’ own sui generis actions).
She has observed that a potential breach of the de facto language policy is treated in a progressive,
three-step manner, i.e. (a) the actual breach of target-language-only rule, (b) the act of language
policing, and (c) orienting to language policing (2013, p. 46). She has also observed such policing
acts are done either in explicit (e.g. ‘Speak in L2’, ‘Don’t speak in L1’, ‘We are not allowed to talk
in L1 here!’, etc.) or in implicit means (miscellaneous interactional means to achieve the goal of
observing the given policy, e.g. self-repairs).
The implication of these aforementioned studies, regarding this chapter, is that the concept of
language alternation as a participants’ choice has not been explored in Bangladeshi ESL setting
(see Huq, 2018; Huq, Barajas, & Cromdal, 2017). Thus, the analytical concern of this chapter is
to explore the following questions:
• What does participants’ language practice, in an ESL classroom located in Bangladeshi setting,
inform regarding the relation between participants’ compliance and monolingual L2-only
policy during works of instruction?
• If the participants of this setting attempt to achieve compliance of the given policy, what
interactional resources are used to achieve such compliance?
The analysis will report the representative interactional patterns of language practices, of an ESL
classroom, in terms of members’ approaches of addressing (or not) the de facto policy available in
and through their in situ practices.
65
Rizwan-ul Huq
Data and methodology

As mentioned earlier, this chapter takes efforts to demonstrate how some participants of an ESL
classroom in Bangladeshi setting make choices of the co-available languages during naturally
occurring2 classroom instructions operated under an institution-specific policy of English-only.To
do so, the methodological inquiry pursued in this study is Conversation Analysis (CA). The pri-
mary interest of this method is to investigate mundane, everyday talks (Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson,
1974). As a field of inquiry (i.e. research in social interaction) as well as a method of inquiry,
CA has emerged in the works of Harvey Sacks (posthumous publications) and E. Schgeloff and
G. Jefferson (Sacks et al., 1974; Sacks, 1992a, 1992b). As a research discipline, it has been influenced
through the works of H. Garfinkel’s Ethnomethodology and E. Goffman’s works on sociological
inquiry. One of the methodological tools borrowed from ethnomethodology is the approach of
studying members’ methods, i.e. the everyday, mundane seen but unnoticed ways through which the
members of the society (the analyst included) construct and constitute the facts of society as a part
of their everyday, ordinary activities.
One of the early works of Sacks has focused on telephonic conversations in a suicide preven-
tion centre in Los Angles. In studying the recorded telephonic conversations, he has observed
interaction between interlocutors is a systematic, orderly affair. Sacks et al. (1974) have claimed,
on empirical grounds, there is an order at all points within human interaction subject to moment-
by-moment, turn-by-turn, detailed, microanalysis of sequential3 organisations of participants’
talk-in-interaction. In so doing, the analysis is presented in the form of verbatim transcripts
containing details of participants’ interaction (verbal, non-verbal, and non-vocal) along with
prosodic, interactional features (i.e. pauses, articulations, emphasis, etc.).
The corpus used in this study is 43 hours long video recordings of Grade-6 ESL lessons
in an English-version school situated in a metropolitan city in Bangladesh. The de facto language
policy of this school is English-only and all lessons (i.e. English, Mathematics, General Science,
etc.) are taught in English with the exception of one lesson, i.e. Bangla. The data collection
took place through 4-month period in varied days. To carry on the task of recording, the
stakeholders (i.e. the school authority, teachers, students, and parents’ representatives) have
been consulted and proper consent has been taken from all participants attending this data
collection process. As the students were minor in age, their parents, on their behalf, signed the
consent forms. The actual names of this institution and participants were kept anonymous by
using pseudo-names and the images of participants have been blurred to ensure anonymity.
The ethical consideration of this project was to save, process, and use the collected data with
appropriate ethical consideration of participants’ identity as well as any participant-specific
sensitive ethical concerns.
The transcripts, used in this chapter, were collected from four separate lessons (i.e. English,
Mathematics, General Science, and Information and Communication Technology) from the
same cohort of students attending different teachers in different times. The standard dur-
ation of these lessons is 35–45 minutes. In general, the number of students attending these
lessons is 45. As the aim of this chapter is to find members’ compliance to given policy, I
have arranged the examples of sequences – available around the entire corpus – according to
the examples of participants’ (both teacher and students) actions regarding the acts of devian-
cies (i.e. the breach of the sanctioned English-only policy) during works of instruction (i.e.
teacher-led whole class teaching). The transcripts reported in this chapter is representative
examples of these participants’ actions happened (and thus recorded in real-time) in this
setting distributed around the corpus. In this chapter, I have followed CA transcription nota-
tion of G. Jeffereson (2004).
66
Analysis
Medium compliant mode of teaching

The extract given below was collected from an English lesson. The teacher has entered the class-
room, exchanged felicitations with students, and borrowed the textbook from a student. The
extract is transcribed from the moment when the teacher is preparing for carrying on an exercise
(i.e. use of articles) from the textbook available in his hand.
Extract 1: It’s Not a Bazaar

[Teacher (TEA), UnSt (Students not available in camera, Pia
(in the inserted); CM2: 2.15.41 – 2.18.11]
1 TEA: now everyone (by) the boy::s and girls:::, get
2 ready with you::r <copy and pen:::>
3 (0.9)
4 TEA: we will do few exercises on::[:::
5 UnSt: [sir article voice
6 TEA: ↑voice ↑change and on::
7 (0.4)
8 TEA: the u::[ses of articles
9 UnSt: [na sir articles] sir
no sir
10 UnSt: (xxx xxx) ((talking to peer, inaudible))
11 TEA: ↑please ↑everyon::e
((looks down to the book))
((flips two pages))
((takes marker))
((turns towards the board))
((moves the chair from podium))
((uncaps marker))
((begins writing))WR ↪ use articles where necessary
put a cross (x) where an article is not needed
(1)He# is alway#s in _____ hurry↩
#figure5.1#figure5.2
12 (2.7)
13 TEA: THIS is not a baAZAr.# ((nods head))
#figure5.3
14 (3.1)((indistinct student talk continues))
15 TEA: its no:t a baza::r. ((gaze to middle section))
16 (0.6)
17 TEA: its a ↑classroom. ((gaze right hand corner))
18 (1.4)
19 TEA: and ↑try ↑to ↑be student like oka::y?
20 (1.5)
21 TEA: >please everyone<
The extract begins with an explicit directive to students of the entire class to get ready with their
exercise books (line 1). Here, the teacher announces the initiation of the upcoming activity though he
67
Rizwan-ul Huq
Figure 5.1 Image 1 from an English lesson
has not announced the topic of the activity yet.The announcement, in this case, means an invoking of
students’ pedagogical obligation to follow teacher’s instruction as well as an upcoming shift of current
state of affairs (from pre-activity towards the core activity). Next, the teacher’s announcement of
potential topics (lines 4 and 6) overlaps with other students’ attempts to offer choices (lines 5 and 8).
Nonetheless, the teacher, in this case, has not consulted with the students. Instead, he has asked students
to pay attention suggesting a formal beginning of the upcoming activity (line 11) followed by a series
of actions, i.e. soliciting the textbook, flipping its pages, taking the marker in hand, removing an obstacle
(a chair in the position of his writing), and starting the work of instruction (i.e. writing down the
exercise on the whiteboard).
During this work of instruction, a student (Pia), sitting in the front row of the middle section, stands
up from her sitting posture (Figure 5.1) and starts pushing her desk leftwards (Figure 5.2) before
retiring back to her seat. In so doing, a disturbing, creaky noise is produced during the moving. Once
the teacher has finished his writing on the board, he withdraws himself from the board, reverts back to
the students (Figure 5.3), and performs a reproach with an ironical assessment in a strongly articulated
voice (line 13, this is not a bazar). Followed by a big pause (line 14), the teacher again rephrases the
earlier statement in similar fashion (line 15) followed by reminders of proper student-like behaviours
in the classroom (lines 17 and 19) and soliciting students’ attention (line 21, please everyone).
The language practice available in this extract demonstrates how the L2-only rule is maintained
in a lesson implementing an English-only mode of talk. Although it can be argued that the lesson
content (i.e. English grammar) can be a potential ground behind such sort of practice, the fact
that teacher could have used L1 as a resource for reproaching (cf. code-switching for classroom
68
management discourse in Ferguson, 2003) demonstrates that the teacher, in this case, choose a
medium-compliant mode of talk instead of using vernacular expressions to carry on the task of
reproaching. Indeed, language alternation from current medium to other often helps achieving
a code contrast (Ferguson, 2003, p. 5). In so doing, such a shift would imply a disruption or
change of current, on-going frame demonstrating a marked shift from lesson content (i.e. lec-
turing, writing, etc.) to off-lesson concerns (i.e. disciplining students, soliciting attention, etc.).
69
Rizwan-ul Huq
Nonetheless, the teacher’s choice of staying in the current medium (pre-activity and during the
reproach) suggests a strict compliance of the sanctioned policy.
Semi-compliance of medium
Whereas the compliant mode relies on strict adherence of given policy, the participants, in
this pedagogic setting, oftentimes sought semi-compliant mode of talk allowing a moderate
switch from monolingual L2 to L1 followed by a quick reversion to L2-only. The next example
(see Extract 2) is reported from a Mathematics classroom with the same cohort of students
attended by a different teacher. The agenda of this extract is the topic of the lesson (i.e. geom-
etry). Before commencing the upcoming activity, the teacher solicits students’ opinions on what
has been done before followed by discussion on what topic they will do today.
Extract 2: Now We are in Geometry

[Participants: Teacher (TEA), Pia (PIA), Munni (MUN), Aisha
(ASA), Sania (SAN),Lina (LIN), Rajon (RAJ), UnSt (Students not
available in the camera); CM2: 00.23-02.12]
1 TEA: okay, sit down please (xxx) ((students talking))
2 UnSt: (xxx xx)
3 (2.1) ((student’s indistinct talk))
4 TEA: do you- ((teacher knocks the duster))
5 (2.2) ((indistinct student peer-talk))
6 TEA: what topic (.) we:: ((hav)) ↑been:: (.) to:?
7 (0.6)
8 PIA: °si:r::° ((asking attention, lending microphone))
9 TEA: the la:st c[l:ass::
10 MUN: [↑sIR alg]ebra
11 RAJ: >algebra (o) shesh< hoye ge[che
also finished
algebra is also finished?
12 PIA: [°si::r°
13 ASA: algebra >↑sir [to↑tally finished< ]
14 MUN: [°°totally finished°°]
15 TEA: [a::lg]ebra shesh
finish
16 hoye gya[che?
done
algebra chapter is done?
17 MUN: [now] we are (in) geometry
18 UnSt: geo ↑ metry::
19 (0.2)
20 TEA: hhh kh:: ↑ ubi:: ↑sundor
very excellent
great, excellent
21 ASA: geo°metry°
22 PIA: >°sir° geometry<
23 TEA: o::key (.) gi::ve me a book:::
24 (0.6) ((a student lends book))
70
25 LIN: ei je
here
here is it
26 TEA: algebra and >little (bit of)< ex:tra
27 (1.6)
28 TEA: wh[i::ch THeoRaym?]
29 MUN: [↑it’s ↑the theo]rem two
30 (0.3)
31 TEA: fi:ni:shed ?
32 PIA: °theorem° one is:: finish::ed
33 (0.3)
34 SAN: theorem two
35 TEA: theorem one is fini::shed
36 (0.2)
37 PIA: ↑ye::S:: ↑Si::r::
38 TEA: o:ke:y::
39 (5.2)
40 TEA: twenty four ((exercise number probably))discuss(ing)
41 theorem two
42 (1.7)
43 UnSt: yes
44 (1.3)
45 TEA: ai:: >would like to< discuss abo::ut
46 (0.5)
47 PIA: theorem one? ((showing surprised face))
48 (0.6)
49 TEA: the:: a::ngles
The extract starts with teacher’s request to students to take their seats (line 1) followed by his
attempts to solicit students’ attention on the topic of the upcoming activity (lines 4 and 5). As
the classroom was a bit noisy, Pia lends the teacher a microphone. Next, the teacher finishes
his current turn by adding further information (line 9) on what he has meant. In response to
teacher’s earlier request, several students offer answers (in lines 10, 12, 13, and 14) articulated in
English except one exception (line 11).
In response to students’ suggestions, the teacher, endorses their opinions in a code-mixed turn
(line 15). Although the teacher has used a code-mixed turn showing acceptability of using L1, the
students have observed the given policy by articulating further elicitations (lines 17 and 18) along
with the suggestion of the topic of instruction (i.e. geometry) in L2. Nonetheless, the teacher
again uses a L1 turn (line 20, khubi sundor, tr: very excellent) expressing his delight (cf. CS for
interpersonal expressions in Ferguson, 2003).
Next, the discussion switched to another issue, i.e. the task number of the chosen topic.
Accepting students’ opinion (line 23, okay), the teacher has asked for a textbook to start the
upcoming activity. The rest of the discussion, from line 26 till the end, revolves around the task
number of the exercise in the textbook. With an occasional deviance of a student (line 25), this
question-answer session is conducted entirely in L2 followed by the announcement of the topic
of instruction (line 49, angles).
In terms of language practice, this extract can be termed as an example of a medium of
interaction conducted in monolingual-L2 with alternation to L1 (Bonacina, 2010; Bonacina &
71
Rizwan-ul Huq
Gafaranga, 2011). Unlike extract 1, this example contains nominal usage of L1. Although the
overall organisation of the interactional order (Gafaranga, 1999, 2007) is monolingual-L2,
the members, of this setting, have treated the instances of alternations to L1 (teacher’s code-
altered turn in lines 15–16, 20; a student’s turn in line 25) as non-repairable, functional deviance
(Gafaranga & Torras, 2001). In other words, the members do not feel any necessity to address
these deviances as breach of policy. As a result, the members do not use any explicit language
policing (Amir, 2013) acts to carry on repair of the wrong language choice. However, the com-
pliance of policy is observable in the form of participants’ efforts to continue the talks in L2. In
other words, the tendency to revert back to L2, once such short and quick L1 turns serve the
purpose, manifests participants’ practice of semi-compliance.
Some instances of minimal compliant mode

The language practices observed in this setting also shows that oftentimes the work of instruc-
tion can be held in a minimal compliant mode. In this section, two such examples, respectively,
reported from an ICT and General Science lesson will be discussed. In the next example (see
Extract 3) to follow, the extract deals with teacher’s short question and answer session done at
the end of his lecture. In an effort to solicit students’ answers, he first asks question (i.e. What is
PDA?) followed by elicitation of this topic in a bilingual mode of talk.
Extract 3: What is a PDA?

[Teacher (TEA), Munni (MUN), UnSt (students not available in
the camera frame); CM2: 2.54.26 – 2.55.08]
1 TEA: what is:: pi di a?
2 (0.6)
3 UnSt: persona[l::
4 UnSt: [pers-
5 TEA: perso:nal: di:gi:tal:: assis::tant
6 (0.5)
7 TEA: that is::: the smallest comput:er:: ↑your
8 ↑smartphone is also:: a pi di a
9 (0.6)
10 TEA: >tomar jodi smartphone thake< setao kin:tu: pi
you if have that’s but
if you have a smartphone, this is also a PDA
11 di a::: (.) thik ache >karon ekhon< sm[art
right this because now
okay, because now-a-days
12 phone e::
in
smart phones now contain
13 MUN: [sir
14 pi di a diye] ki ko[re?
with what do
sir what we can do with PDA?
15 TEA: [com]puter er al::most:
computer’s
72
16 sob:::: feature chole asche:: tai na?

every became isn’t it
all features of computer are now available (in PDA),
right?
17 ei:: je:::
here
for example
18 UnSt: (xxx)
19 (0.2)
20 TEA: ex:pe:ri::ah.
21 MUN: hhh.
22 TEA: sony ex:pe:ri::a: >(samsang)<
23 MUN: sir pi di e diye [ki kaj kore?]
with what job do
Sir, what we can do with PDA?
24 UnSt: [(xxxx xxxx)]
25 (0.7)
26 TEA: kom:puter r sob kaj i: pi di a kore [ekhon
computer all jobs do now
now PDA can do almost every task of a computer
27 MUN: [aw:: accha]
okay
28 (0.5)
29 TEA: ebong smart phone tai it’s a kind of pi di a
and it
so, now smart phone itself is a PDA
30 >tahole< which computer is the ↓small::est
then
31 o::ne?
32 UnSt: pi [di: a::
33 TEA: [desktop lap]top pi [di a
34 UnSt: [pi di a
35 TEA: =tablet
36 UnSt: pi di a
37 TEA: pi di a sob chaite choto ekhon
most smallest now
PDA is the smallest (computer) till today
Here, the teacher asked a question in line 1 to the whole class. Two students have taken efforts
to articulate their answers in L2 (lines 3 and 4) followed by appropriate feedback of this answer
(line 5).To further elucidate the answer, the teacher offers further explanation of this answer in L2
(lines 7–8). From lines 7–22, the discussion now unfolds regarding the types of PDAs available in
the marketplaces. In this sequence, the teacher keeps asking and elaborating the relevant examples
of PDAs. Although a student (Munni, lines 13–14) has attempted to ask a supplementary question
relevant to this discussion (lines 13–14), the teacher has not answered it right there. Instead, he
first elucidates the examples of PDAs and finally takes the effort of answering her question, on
her second attempt (line 23), once the examples are discussed with the whole cohort. After
73
Rizwan-ul Huq
offering a brief response to Munni’s question (lines 26 and 29), the teacher again returns to his
earlier project (i.e. question and answer session) from line 30 onwards.
The sequential organisation of this extract, as it has unfolded, can be divided into four distinct
parts, i.e. (a) the initial quiz session (line 1–6), (b) further explanation of answer (lines 7–22),
(c) attending a student’s supplementary question (lines 23–29), and (d) re-initiation of the quiz
session (lines 30–37). The practiced language, in this case, has followed a continuous shuttling
between different mediums. For instance, the initiation of quiz happened in a compliant mode,
i.e. monolingual-L2 medium. The elucidation of example has started in mono-L2 (line 7) but
the rest of the talk is held in monolingual-L1 with occasional alternations to L2. The feedback
on students’ supplementary question is attended in monolingual-L1. The end of sequence is
again done in monolingual-L2 with occasional use of L1 (lines 30 and 37).The relation between
instruction and language practice, at this point, is that the teacher has started the formal, lesson
activity (as he is picking question from the textbook) in a compliant mode (line 1–6) and semi-
compliant mode (lines 30–37). However, the explanations (lines 7–22) and the answer to sup-
plementary question (lines 23–29) are offered in minimal-compliant mode (cf. teacher-initiated
CS for pedagogical needs in Üstünel & Seedhouse, 2005). In other words, the compliance to
L2-only policy, in this case, is distributed according to the type of activities the participants
are attending (cf. distributed bilingual order of L2 and L1 for different pedagogic activities in
Cromdal, 2005; Lehti-Eklund, 2012; Slotte-Lüttge, 2007) co-constructing a shuttling between
different modes of compliances. The next extract (Extract 4) also shares similar procedural pro-
gression of compliance during teacher’s lecture in a General Science lesson. The topic of this
lesson is light.
Extract 4: Matter and Energy

[Teacher (TEA), Sania (SAN), Munni (MUN), Tinni (TIN); CM2:
1.48.00-1.50.10]
1 TEA: the ≈who:::::l::e≈ universe (0.8) there:: is
2 two:: thing >there are two things< (1.8) one
3 is: e::nergy
4 UnST: °matt:er::°
5 TEA: another is:::
6 UnST: ma[tters
7 TEA: [subs::]tan:ce::
8 (0.7)
9 TEA: substance an::d
10 UnST: °ener[gy°
11 TEA: [en]er:g:y
12 (1.2)
13 TEA: ↑every::thing: is::: (.) related to the (xxx)
14 (2.0) KARON NO::w a days:: (1.5) ↑we have ↑come
because
15 to know ↑that::: only one thing in the
16 univers::e: (0.2) that is energy (2.1)
17 substance or material bolte ≈ki::chu::≈ na::i
called something nothing
substance or matter does not exist in reality
((noise from outside, student murmur))
74
18 (3.1)
19 TEA: jem::on amra ki? >materials because we have
like we what
such as, what are we made of?
20 mass::< (.) we have weight:: we can <occupy
21 space> (1.0) we can resist the force
22 (2.2)
23 TEA: mAtt::er tahole >what the matter and what the
then
24 energy< (0.7) the substance we- the things::
25 (.) which are (getting-) (.) which hav:e
26 TIN: power::
26 TEA: vo::lume::
27 SAN: size
28 TEA: > je jinish tar volume ache< ↑ay:::y ((attention
that thing have
something which has its own volume
29 demands to a student)) (1.0) volume ache↓
have
has its volume
30 MUN: size shape
31 TEA: occupy space
32 MUN: and (xxxx)
33 TEA: and which can resi::st the fo:rce
34 (1.9)
35 TEA: that is a substance ar energy jegula e gula nai
and those this don’t
&energy doesn’t have this
characteristics
36 energy have no (xxx xx) volume (and width)
37 shap:e:: just feelings ta ache
this have
only the feeling of its presence exist
38 (0.9)
39 SANIA: (xxx)
40 TEA: li::ght amader- oi je surjer (niche) darayle ki
our that sun under stand what
our- if we stand under the sunlight
41 hoy? amader gorom lage tai na?
happens? we hot feel isn’t
what happens to us? we feel very hot, right?
42 UnST: yes
43 TEA: tar feelings ta (ase) jaihok hoyto kichu ekta
its exist anyway probably something
we can feel its existence anyway maybe something
44 amar shorir e porche jar karone ami
my body over dropping for reason I
is dropping over my whole body and for this reason I
75
Rizwan-ul Huq
45 UnST: °°gorom onubhob korchi°°

hot feeling do
am feeling the heat
46 TEA: ami bujhte parchi je am:ar (0.8) ayaii
I know do that my
I can understand that I am
47 ((attention demand)) gorom lagche
hot feeling
feeling the heat
48 (2.4)
This extract can be broken down into five progressive sequences, i.e. (a) the proposition of the
topic (lines 1–12), (b) further explanation of the topic statement (lines 13–18), (c) contextualising
the example of matter through a rhetorical question followed by explanation (lines 19–22),
(d) reintroducing the question (lines 23–38) allowing students’ participation, and (e) further
explanation of the example of energy (lines 39–48). The language practices perspective, in this
case, shows that the members’ procedures of orienting (or not) towards the given policy, in and
through these sequences, are available in the form of participants’ practices of treating the off-
policy choices as repairable or not. For instance, the proposition of the lesson topic (lines 1–12)
happens in a monolingual-L2 without any alternation to L1. Thus, this sequence can be termed
as a compliant mode of interaction as the participants do not need to address the breach of
de facto policy.
In the next sequence, further explanation takes place in the form of supplementary information
on earlier proposition marked with highly articulated (line 13, karon, tr: because) or rhythmical,
musical expressions (line 17, bolte kichu nai, tr: there is nothing like this) in L1. Nonetheless,
the breach of given policy (i.e. use of L1 expressions) is not treated by these participants as devi-
ance as no effort is visible to rectify such actions. Thus, this sequence can be termed as a semi-
compliant mode where the overall organisation is monolingual-L2 with occasional alternation to
L1 (Bonacina & Gafaranga, 2011) treated as non-repairable items. In contextualising the topic of
matter into a real-life example (lines 19–22), the similar practice is also upheld. The teacher has
only asked the rhetorical question (line 19, jemon amra ki? tr: like what are we?) in L1 followed
by a monolingual-L2.
The next sequence (lines 23–38), though is dotted with L1 use, can be a potential candidate of
compliant mode of talk as the usage of L1, in this case, has been addressed as a repairable choice
allowing an implicit language policing (Amir, 2013) of such choices. The code-mixed turns (in
lines 28, 29, 35, and 37) have only been offered along with equivalent L2 expressions either
before (lines 24, 25, and 26) or after (36–37) the use of L1 expressions treating the use of L1, in
these sequences, as repairable deviance.The only non-repairable choice, here, is the L1 expression
used in the beginning (line 23, tahole, tr: then) and thus this sequence is a semi-compliant mode
as this specific use is not treated as a repairable deviance.
In the end of this extract (lines 39–47), a sharp code contrast is visible as the dominant mode of
talk, in this sequence, is conducted in minimal-compliant mode. Indeed, this is a monolingual-L1
medium (Bonacina & Gafaranga, 2011) with some rare usage of L2 (lines 40, 42, and 43). In
contrast to the sanctioned policy of the setting, the use of L2 is only limited to key L2 terms
(i.e. light, feelings) or students’ feedback (i.e. yes) and the discussion in L1 turns are treated as
a normative, non-repairable, non-deviant choice without any interactional cue of reverting to
L2-only rule continued till the end of the extract.
76
Conclusion
To summarise, the aim of this chapter is to describe the in situ language practices of participants’
in vivo language practice in an ESL school located in Bangladeshi setting. Situated in a pedagogic
context where no articulated policy is available in the national level, this ESL school operates
its everyday schooling activities under a de facto, English-only policy. However, the observation
has revealed that the actual talk of this classroom can be conducted in English as well as Bangla
available in various forms of Medium of Classroom Interaction (Bonacina & Gafaranga, 2011;
Bonacina, 2010; Bonacina-Pugh, 2017), i.e. monolingual-English with alternation to Bangla,
monolingual-Bangla with alternation to English, and bilingual medium. Therefore, the analysis
has further explored these available practices of this setting in relation to participants’ sui generis
members’ practices of complying with the de facto, institution-specific English-only policy. In
so doing, the analytical focus was to understand how the members of this educational setting
themselves accounted for their usage of language in the field as it has unfolded in and through
their daily, every day, mundane classroom interaction. In other words, the focus was what they
did in reality rather on what they thought they should ideally do or what policy managers
would expect them to do (Spolsky, 2004, 2005, 2017). In applying this framework to this data,
it has been observed that the compliance of the given policy (i.e. the interactional patterns of
conforming or yielding) has been achieved through three types of approaches, i.e. compliant,
semi-compliant, and minimal-compliant modes.
In compliant sequences of teaching activities, the participants have strictly aligned with the
given policy with no deviation from the policy expectation. In other words, this is a strict
monolingual-L2 only (ex.1) with no alternation to L1 resources. In other words, the Medium of
Instruction is most rigorously practiced and upheld in compliant modes of interaction. In case
of semi-compliant mode, however, the participants have used monolingual-L2 with alternation
to L1 treating the breach of policy (i.e. use of L1) as a non-repairable deviation (e.g. ex.2, some
instances of ex.3 and ex.4). In other words, the breach of given policy (i.e. use of L2 only) is sub-
ject to participants’ accountability of complying with the given Medium of Instruction policy
and these instances of occasional deviances are treated as non-policable acts (Amir, 2013). Although
the accountability of participants is less strict in terms of compliance, a tendency is observable
in the form of mode-default reversion towards the L2-only once such non-repairable deviances
perform the functional local necessities (Gafaranga, 2007), e.g. offering a translation of prior turn
for elucidating the turn content, impromptu, emotive expressions, soliciting students’ attention,
offering prompt responses in question-answer session, etc.The minimal-compliant mode, last but
not the least, is monolingual-L1 medium with rare or nominal use of L2 treating L1 as a mode-
default, normative choice. In this case, the tendency of reverting back to L2-only is least observ-
able especially when teachers themselves allowed such medium as a normative, non-deviant
choice (ex.3, lines 7–22, 23–29; and ex.4, lines 39–47). In other words, the overall sequential
organisation of such modes has treated L1 use as non-repairable item with least interactional cue
of reverting to L2-only.
This chapter has also sought to explain the relation between interactional resources and mode
of compliance. It has been observed that the breach of policy (i.e. use of L1) is subject to
participants’ accountability in the form of self-initiated repairs (Sacks et al., 1974; Sacks, 1992a,
1992b; also Amir, 2013) especially available in semi-compliant modes. As the examples discussed
in this chapter have analysed works of instruction (i.e. lecturing, discussion, question answer
sessions, etc.), it has been observed that the teacher, in cases of such breaches, offered translations
of their L1 usage (either prior to or after its use) in the form of statements or iterating the key
terms in L2. In other words, there is no explicit language policing offered in verbal turns. Instead,
77
Rizwan-ul Huq
the compliance with the policy is achieved implicitly and covertly (Amir, 2013) by addressing the
code-altered L1 turns as repairable, correctable resource in semi-compliant modes. In cases of
minimal-compliant modes, however, such measures were least used.
Having said that, the implication of these findings needs to be understood not only in terms of
these specific examples (i.e. particular) of this ESL setting but also its generalisable implications to
other policy-governed bilingual schooling settings. In studying these specific examples, indeed,
an effort is made to understand the underlying machinery (Sacks, 1992b; see also interactional
architecture in Seedhouse, 2004) that produces such sorts of practices. In this regard, Sacks has
argued that the aim of CA is to reach into the analytical, vantage point to transform the:
view of what happened here as some interaction that could be treated as the things
we’re studying, to interactions being spewed out by a machinery, the machinery being
what we’re trying to find; where in order to find it we’ve got to get a whole bunch of
its products.
(Sacks, 1992b, p. 169)
In other words, by elucidating the arrangement of microanalysis of these teacher–student inter-

action in an institutional policy-governed setting, this study not only offers specific instances of
interactional patterns but also offers generalisable results by extracting from these representative
instances of interactional patterns and by exploring the participants’ perspective embedded into
this organisation of the classroom interaction. First, it has been observed that the participants, of
this educational setting, are aware of the fact that they should interact in the given policy espe-
cially during the works of instruction. This awareness or sensitivity towards the given policy is
available in the form of participants’ accountability of observing compliant mode, addressing
repairable items in semi-compliant modes, or tendency to revert back to mode-default L2-only
once minimal-compliant mode is practiced. It shows the generalisable interactional pattern that
how participants, in a policy-governed L2-only classroom, can arrange their language practices
in accordance with their functional and pedagogical necessities often in observance or apparent
violations of the given policy. Second, it also implies language alternation, as a bilingual behav-
iour, can be studied in terms of its sequential organisation in the overall order instead of studying
it as single, isolated, static, discrete items. In other words, the sequential arrangements of lan-
guage alternation, distributed around these participants’ classroom interaction, indeed echo the
rubric that there is an order at all points (Sacks et al., 1974; Sacks, 1992a, 1992b) and this order
can be explained – in and through members’ perspective – of usage of different types of codes
or mediums (i.e. mono-L2, mono-L1, bilingual, etc.). Given that this chapter is based on a single
case study, further studies in other bilingual settings are still needed before these arguments can
be broadly generalised, especially in relation to ESL schooling in Bangladesh.
At this point, let us consider what this chapter anyway offers regarding language policy in ESL
education in Bangladeshi setting. It should be acknowledged that this chapter does not draw
any remark on what should be the ideal language policy of ESL schools or participants’ beliefs
regarding such language use. Instead, this chapter argues that the first step before advising any
policy needs an empirical understanding of the field operated in everyday, mundane basis. In
efforts to tell ESL schools what should be the ‘ideal’ language practice, the first move should start
with the mode-default practices existing in the field. Now, whether policy managers are happy
with such practices or not is a different question to be asked and answered by different types of
research.This chapter, at this point, serves the purpose of showing how an ESL classroom located
in Bangladesh is operated in compliance to policy expectations and the implications of these
practices in terms of members’ sui generis interactional patterns.
78
Transcription notation
Section 1.01 er::: Section 1.02 Colon: Prolongation of previous sound

Section 1.03 yeaah Section 1.04 Underlining: Speaker’s emphasis on particular syllable
Section 1.05 now- Section 1.06 Dash: Cut-off word
Section 1.07 OKAY Section 1.08 Capitals: Exclusively loud sounds than surrounding
utterances
Section 1.09 [ Section 1.10 Opening square brackets: Opening of overlapping
utterances
Section 1.11 ] Section 1.12 Closing square brackets: Closing of overlapping
utterances
(.) Pauses in speech less than 0.2 seconds
(0.2) Pauses in speech of tenth of a second
(xxx) Crosses in single brackets: Inaccessible, unclear words, each cross
representing one syllables
(then) Words in single brackets: Uncertain words, observer’s guess
tahole eta ki Words in italics (courier new): Code-switched Bangla turns,
then it what Words in bold (courier new): Literal, word-by-word substitution
then what is it? below the actual utterances,
Words in default (times new roman): Pragmatic translation of original
utterances.
°yes° Encompassing degree signs: Quieter sounds than surrounding utterances
((noise)) Double brackets: Note on contextual information
>good< Encompassing more than and less than signs: Noticeably quicker
sound than surrounding utterances
<okay> Encompassing less than and more than signs: Noticeably slower pace
of utterance compared to surrounding utterances
? Question mark: Rising intonation
, Comma: Continuing intonation
. Full stop: Falling terminal intonation
yeah= Equal sign: Latching between utterances
=yeah
he he Laughter
↑ Upward arrow: Rising pitched voice
↓ Downward arrow: Falling lower pitched voice
hhh Speaker in-breath
.hhh Speaker out-breath
→ Rightward arrow: Marking a key point for analytical purpose
WR ↪ Writing on the board starts
↩ Writing on the board ends
# Hash sign: Position of an image within a turn at talk
Fig. Denotes insertion of figures or image
≈ Musical, wavy voice
Notes
1 By the term ESL, in this chapter, I mean all sorts of English as Second Language education available in
Bangladesh including government-approved national curriculum English-version schools, International
Standard English Medium schools, and private Kindergarten schools (see details in Huq, 2018).
2 By the term naturally occurring, I mean the CA-based concept of participants’ talk-in-interaction as it has
happened in real-time situation without any exogenous, top-down influences (or inputs) of any sort
in the form of experiments, surveys, interviews, or other methods during data collection process. It
means the interaction has taken place in the way it should have happened anyway.
3 The term sequence, in CA’s terminology, implies here the ordered positioning of participants’ verbal or
vocal utterances or embodied actions (Sacks et al., 1974).
79
Rizwan-ul Huq
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6
ARE TERTIARY EFL
LEARNERS READY FOR INPUT
ENHANCEMENT TECHNIQUE
IN BANGLADESH?
Introduction
Written texts could be considered as one of the main sources of Target Language (TL) input
for the tertiary-level learners of Bangladesh where class sizes vary from 40 to more than 150
students, and classrooms are rarely multimedia facilitated. Though Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT) approach was introduced in this country in the late 1990s with a view to making
the learners communicatively competent in English, the TL grammar is still taught to them in a
decontextualised way following explicit instructions. It is widely observed that both teachers and
learners of the country mostly depend on the traditional rule-based grammar books for gaining
accuracy in the TL grammar. In such classroom situations, Textual Enhancement (TE) of input,
an Input Enhancement technique of implicit Focus on Form (FonF) procedure, could serve as an
effective teaching technique for drawing learners’ attention to any targeted forms by increasing
the perceptual salience of those features in written input through typographical manipulations.
It is believed that this amplification of input saliency raises the chances of learners’ noticing the
targeted items of the input in a meaningful context, and thereby supporting them to acquire the
form–function mappings of those items. Bangladeshi learners, who have formal pre-exposure
to English in the formative 12 years of schooling, could further be benefitted by applying TE
because TE would be able to facilitate TL acquisition of learners with pre-knowledge about
the targeted forms (Lee, 2007; White, 1998). A point to note, however, is that though TE was
introduced more than two decades ago, Second Language (L2) researchers are still indecisive
regarding the effectiveness of this procedure. The selection of distinctive research methodologies
and targeted forms of the previous TE studies has added an air of uncertainty. It has become
quite difficult to assume whether the application of TE will be suitable to a particular context
for teaching any types of grammar forms (Han, Park, & Combs, 2008; Leow & Martin, 2017).
Therefore, application of TE at the tertiary level in Bangladesh necessitates investigations as to
whether or not these learners’ noticing, intake, and acquisition of TL input could be facilitated
by using this implicit teaching technique. This predicament of measuring the value of this pro-
cedure particularly in the Bangladeshi environment is sorely missing; this study was initiated to
fulfil this obligation.
Subject–verb agreement in the third person present simple tense for making focus number
distinction by referring to singular or plural aggregated entities (Reid, 1991) was selected as the
82
Input enhancement technique
target form of the study of this chapter. As verbs are not inflected according to number and person
for indicating present simple tense in Bangladeshi learner’s First Language (L1) Bangla, these
learners often face difficulties in understanding the targeted form–function mappings in English
(DeKeyser, 2005). Therefore, these learners need to notice the use of subject–verb agreements
in meaningful contexts to understand the form–function mappings of these forms (Reid, 1991).
Since TE could provide learners with such opportunities of noticing those forms, this instruc-
tional procedure was applied in the study to draw the learners’ attention to the targeted items
(Long & Robinson, 1998).
Accordingly, this chapter presents a study that aims to examine whether or not multiple
exposure to TE could facilitate Bangladeshi tertiary learners’ noticing, intake, and thereby acqui-
sition of the form to function mappings of those target structures.
Explorations in text enhancement techniques

FonF procedures were proposed in response to the crucial debate on whether form or meaning
should be emphasised in L2 classrooms (Long, 1991; Long & Robinson, 1998). This procedure
encapsulates some characteristics of both traditional grammar-based method and CLT approach
to language teaching and thereby emphasises the importance of drawing learner’s attention to
both meaning and form in L2 instruction.
Input enhancement is considered as one of the FonF techniques where “the perceptual sali-
ence of the target items could be increased” by applying different teaching procedures for giving
exposure to the input (Long & Robinson, 1998, p. 24). This procedure draws the main support
from Smith’s (1991) argument that mere exposure to comprehensible input is not enough for
language acquisition to take place. Even though learners are provided with TL input, their lan-
guage acquisition may not be facilitated with it. Either they may not notice the targeted features
or the input may be of poor quality for which the target structures might not be perceptually
salient or noticeable to the learners (Han et al., 2008). Therefore, teachers, material designers, or
researchers could draw learners’ attention intentionally to different target forms to promote their
noticing of the necessary structural properties of the input and to process it further to initiate
intake.
Smith (1993) also mentioned that the greater the saliency of input, the higher the chances of
learners’ noticing it. Human’s input processing capacity is limited, and they tend to give more
importance to meaning than to form (VanPatten, 2007). They will notice the forms only if
they need to interpret the meanings of those items, and only when they are left with enough
attentional resources to employ for noticing and processing of those forms (VanPatten, 2007)
Therefore, if learners’ attention is not drawn to the target features in the input externally, they
might miss noticing it.
TE, one of the input enhancement techniques, is an instructional procedure where any target
items in the input “… can be made perceptually salient to L2 learners in a planned way so that
they can notice the targeted forms without any explicit meta-linguistic explanation” (Jahan &
Kormos, 2015, p. 48). Therefore, the typographical manipulations such as boldfacing, italicising,
colouring, and underlining in the written input are instances of different forms of TE, and
these modifications can be considered as an ‘implicit and unobtrusive’ way of focusing learners’
attention on targeted forms (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011, p. 41). TE can function in two ways: first
by engaging learners’ attention primarily in textual meaning comprehension, and second, by
directing their attention incidentally to ‘mapping’ form–meaning relationships (Ellis, 2008).
However, learner’s processing of input for meaning does not necessarily guarantee that noticing
will take place, and the noticed item will become intake (Smith, 1991).
83
In his noticing hypothesis, Schmidt (1995) stated that learners should pay attention to or notice
the relevant details and differences of targeted items in the linguistic data that they are provided
with in order to acquire that particular aspect of the TL. Noticing target items is, therefore, one
of the influencing factors in turning input into intake. Schmidt (1995) further distinguished
between two different levels of awareness: the surface-level awareness or noticing involves the
conscious registration of certain events, whereas the higher level of awareness or understanding is
concerned with pattern and/or rule recognition.Though Truscott and Smith (2011) agreed with
Schmidt (2001) that initial noticing is a part of a ‘subliminal process’, they considered noticing
as ‘an intermediate level of awareness’ (Truscott & Smith, 2011). According to them, noticing
involves the awareness of both input and specific features of the input (Truscott & Smith, 2011).
Since TE was treated as a single independent variable in this study, the previous studies which
considered it in the same manner were reviewed. Those studies exposed different effects of TE
on various constructs of their research. For example, Jahan (2018), Jahan and Kormos (2015),
and Loewen and Inceoglu (2016) exposed that TE supported the noticing of their participants,
whereas White (1998) found that TE could have a positive impact on production; and LaBrozzi
(2016), Lee (2007), and White (1998) concluded that TE can facilitate learning. In contrast, other
TE studies (Lee, 2007; Putta, 2016) did not find any facilitating impact of it.
Considering all the theoretical factors and the findings of the previous research stated above,
two research questions were formulated in the study which aims to examine, first, the extent to
which multiple exposure to enhanced texts promotes participant’s noticing of the subject–verb
agreement forms in the third person present simple tense. Second, the extent to which multiple
exposure to TE facilitates participant’s grammatical development to make focus number distinc-
tion in terms of singular or plural aggregated entities by using subject–verb agreement forms in
the third person present simple tense.
The study design

This study was conducted adopting a mixed-methods approach. Simple random sampling
method was applied to collect data. A total of 100 undergraduate first semester students of a
private university of Bangladesh participated in the study. They enrolled in ENG100, an oral
communication development course, at the university where the first researcher of this study
has been teaching. Four out of 20 sections of students coming from science (N = 30), business
(N = 35), and social science (N = 35) faculties were randomly selected and invited to partici-
pate in the study. Though the pre-test of the study involved 113 students, only 100 of them who
secured 40% or less than that of the total marks of the test were asked to take part in the rest
of the study. Thus, the effect of their prior knowledge was controlled (Jahan & Kormos, 2015).
Their age range was from 18 to 20.The background questionnaire revealed that Bangla was their
L1. They were from Bangla-medium background. They started studying English grammar from
Grade 3. All of them used traditional commercial textbooks for learning TL grammar at the pre-
tertiary level.
The first target form was the subject–verb agreement in the third person singular number in
present simple tense, that is, N (+/Ø/) + singular V (V+/-s, -es/). This form is used when the
verb focus number is considered as ‘One’ entity. Here entity refers to an object or a person and
‘One’ entity refers to a group of objects or persons as a single unit i.e. aggregately (Reid, 1991).
For example, “This class likes their class teacher Mr. Karim”.
The N +/-s, -es, - Ø/+ plural V (V) structure was the next item. This subject-verb agreement
form in the third person plural number in present simple tense is used when the verb focus number
is considered as ‘More than One’ aggregated entities (Reid, 1991). For example,“The indigenous
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communities of Bangladesh live in the southern and eastern parts of the country”. Since
the ability to distinguish between singular aggregated entity and plural aggregated entity plays a
major role in understanding the noun verb conjugation in these targeted forms, both nouns and
verbs were emboldened in the enhanced texts for giving exposure to the targeted items.
Enhanced and non-enhanced versions of two reading texts were used as materials: A Healthy
Diet (Text A, 254 words; Elbaum, 2001, pp. 282–283) and Science in Our Daily Life (Text B, 305
words; Werner, 2007, p. 226).
According to the experimental research design of the study, the participants (N = 100) were
randomly divided into three groups: enhanced, non-enhanced, and control.The enhanced group
(N = 40) received exposure to TE, whereas the non-enhanced (N = 40) group got exposure
to the unenhanced version of the input, and the control group (N = 20) did not receive any
exposure to the input. The study was conducted over 14 weeks with a pre-test, an immediate
post-test, and a delayed post-test. Before conducting the pre-test, the participants were asked
to fill in a background questionnaire to find out information about their pre-tertiary level
experience of learning the TL. The pre-test was conducted in week one without providing any
treatment sessions. Afterwards, the participants of the enhanced and the non-enhanced groups
were exposed to the targeted forms twice during week five with the interval of a day. Two
reading texts, A and B, having enhanced and non-enhanced versions were used to provide mul-
tiple exposure to the input. To investigate task order effect, these texts were exposed to the
participants of the enhanced and the non-enhanced groups in two orders.Thus, these two groups
were again divided into ‘Text A First’ and ‘Text B First’ groups having 20 participants equally.The
second exposure was followed by the immediate post-test. Five tasks and a questionnaire were
used in this study to elicit data.The participants did two grammar tasks, such as a fill-in-the blanks
task (grammar task one) and choosing the correct form task (grammar task two) with certainty
judgment of answers in all the tests for 10 minutes each. These grammar tasks were given to all
the participants of the study during the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test. The
Multiple Choice (MC) based reading comprehension task (5 minutes) and the note–taking task
(15 minutes) were given to only the enhanced and the non-enhanced group participants during
both exposure sessions. These two groups also answered four noticing questions in 10 minutes
after performing the note-taking task in the second exposure. A metalinguistic awareness test
battery (10 minutes) was further given to all the participants of the three groups after the imme-
diate post-test. The delayed post-test was conducted in week 14. The instruments of the study
were piloted before using in this research, and this study was conducted in classroom context.
Similar instruments were also used by Jahan (2018).
Data analysis
Two sets of data were gathered; the quantitative information was extracted from the MC com-
prehension task, two grammar tasks, the certainty judgement task, and two noticing questions.
The correct and the incorrect answers to the reading tasks and the grammar tasks were scored ‘1’
and ‘0’ respectively. The participant’s certainty regarding their answers to grammar task two was
scored ‘1’, whereas, their uncertainty regarding those same responses were scored ‘0’. In the case
of the noticing questions, the first (Did you notice anything in particular while reading the texts?) and
the third ones’ (Were you thinking about any grammatical rules while reading the texts?) answers were
scored ‘1’ where the participants ticked ‘Yes’, contrastingly, the answers were scored ‘0’ when the
participants replied in the negative.
The next set, the qualitative data were elicited from the other two noticing questions and the
metalinguistic awareness test battery. The second noticing question (If your answer to question no. 1
85
is ‘yes’, then what did you notice?) answers were scored ‘1’ (that is, noticed) if the participants stated
that they had noticed examples of words or bold words related to the targeted forms of the study.
In contrast, when participants mentioned that they had not noticed anything related to the target
forms, their responses were considered as instances of ‘not noticed’, and were scored ‘0’. In case
of the last noticing question (If your answer to question no. 3 is ‘yes’, then what grammatical rules were
you thinking about?), the scoring criteria was different. The responses of the participants, which
stated that they were considering the grammar rules related to subject–verb agreement, were
categorized as exposing awareness of the target from, and received the score ‘1’. Contrastingly,
any other responses, which expressed that the participants were not thinking about the targeted
grammar rules, were considered as showing ‘no awareness’ of the forms that were targeted and
therefore, were scored ‘0’.
Scoring of the metalinguistic awareness test battery was performed in the following way:
responses which expressed that singular verb could be used for indicating that the focus of the
verb is on the subject of the sentence, which is considered as a group of objects or persons as a
single unit aggregately, altogether or integrally, and plural verb could be used for indicating that
the focus of the verb is on the subject of the sentence, which is considered as more than one group
of objects or persons aggregately or integrally, were considered as showing ‘full understanding’ of
the targeted forms. On the other hand, responses which stated that singular verb could be used
for expressing that the focus of the verb is on the subject of the sentence which is considered
as a group of objects or persons and plural verb could be used when the focus of the verb is on
the subject of the sentence which is considered as more than one groups of objects or persons
were considered as representing ‘partial understanding’ of the targeted form. Any other responses
except the ones stated above were considered as showing ‘no understanding’ of the targeted forms.
The participants took notes at both word and phrase levels while performing the note-taking
task. Therefore, the data were measured according to each of the items of the target forms of the
study, and the participants received score ‘1’ for noticing each of those items in the texts separately.
The participants were given the score ‘0’ if they did not take note of any of the targeted items. Of
the qualitative data, 20% were submitted for testing inter-rater reliability using Kappa statistics.
The statistical software, SPSS version 23, was used to analyse the data of the study. The raw
scores of the pre-test, immediate post-test, and delayed post-test were transferred to the SPSS
where the level of significance was fixed at 0.05. In order to examine the rate of development of
the participants in each of the post-tests in terms of total test scores, per task test scores, and cer-
tainty judgment scores, the scores of the pre-test for the target forms were subtracted from both
of the post-tests scores respectively. The differences between the scores were called gain scores in
the study. A repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted on the gain scores
with attention paid to the total gains scores of each of the target forms per post-tests as within
subject factors, and treatment (i.e. enhanced, non-enhanced, and control) and order of the texts
(A-first and B-first) as between subject factors. No significant task order effect of the texts was
found on the treatment group’s gain scores (ANOVA results F = 0.034 and p = 0.854). Then, the
descriptive statistics as well as the skewness and the kurtosis of the distribution of the gain scores
were also investigated to determine the normality of the distribution. It was found that all the
gain scores were normally distributed.
Results
The descriptive statistics for the total scores of the enhanced, the non-enhanced, and the con-
trol groups in the pre-test demonstrated that all the three groups were almost similar in their
prior knowledge of the targeted forms (enhanced group M = 5.85, SD = 1.12; non-enhanced
86
group M = 6.15, SD = 1.31; control group M = 5.90, SD = 1.41). One-way ANOVA results for
the mean scores of the pre-test clearly showed that these groups did not differ from each other
in a statistically significant manner in terms of their prior knowledge about the targeted forms
(M = 5.98, SD = 1.26, F(2,97) = 0.617, p = 0.542). However, the participants had more pre-
knowledge about the plural form of verbs (M = 3.43, SD = 0.83) than the singular form of verbs
(M = 2.54, SD = 0.88) in general.
Note-taking task results

An independent samples t-test was performed on the note-taking scores of the first and the
second exposure. The t-test results (see Table 6.1) also revealed that the enhanced and the non-
enhanced groups’ note-taking mean scores for the singular and the plural verbs of the targeted
subject–verb agreement construction did not vary significantly from each other on the first
exposure. However, on the second exposure these groups’ mean scores varied significantly from
each other for taking notes of those two targeted grammatical items.
Table 6.1 Independent samples t-test results for the note-taking task mean scores
Exposure Target forms Paired samples Enhanced Non-enhanced t df Sig-2

tailed
M SD M SD
Day 1 Singular subject–verb N +/Ø/ 1.85 1.51 1.1 0.74 −2.82 78 0.006
agreement Sing V 1.05 1.74 0.43 0.98 −1.98 78 0.051
Plural subject–verb N +/Ø/ .975 1.71 0.50 0.88 −3.74 78 0.000
agreement Plural verb 2.18 1.38 1.25 0.74 −1.56 78 0.123
Day 2 Singular subject–verb N +/Ø/ 2.60 1.77 1.73 0.93 −5.60 78 0.000
agreement Singular verb 3.15 1.31 1.28 1.30 −3.82 78 0.000
Plural subject–verb N +/Ø/ 3.05 1.72 1.90 1.10 −5.01 78 0.000
agreement Plural verb 3.53 1.24 1.33 1.33 −6.19 78 0.000
MC comprehension task results

The descriptive statistics for the comprehension scores according to the independent sample
t-test for the treatment groups revealed that both enhanced and non-enhanced groups gained
very high M and quite low SD scores where the maximum score that the participants could have
gained for the comprehension task was ‘5’. Additionally, the independent sample t-test results of
these mean scores demonstrated that these two groups did not vary from each other significantly
in comprehending the enhanced or the non-enhanced version of the texts (enhanced group
M = 4.48 and SD = 0.60, non-enhanced group M = 4.43 and SD = 0.60, t(78) = 0.38, p = 0.709
for text A, and enhanced group M = 4.70 and SD = 0.52, non-enhanced group M = 4.78 and
SD = 0.64, t(78) = 1.73, p = 0.088 for text B).
Noticing question results

A Pearson’s Chi-square test was conducted on the noticing question scores of the enhanced
and the non-enhanced groups. The test results showed that though the two groups varied sig-
nificantly in noticing the forms according to the noticing question one (χ2(1, N = 80) = 8.35,
p = 0.004) and two (χ2(1, N = 80) = 9.14, p = 0.002) scores, they did not differ significantly as
87
Table 6.2 Cross-tabulation of treatment and noticing question scores
Treatment N&% Noticing Noticing Noticing Noticing

question one question two question three question four
Yes No Noticed Not noticed Yes No Aware Not aware
Non-enhanced 40 25 15 8 32 14 26 7 33
100% 62.5% 37.5% 20% 80% 35% 65% 17.5% 82.5%
Enhanced 40 36 4 21 19 20 20 15 25
100% 90% 10% 52.5% 47.5% 50% 50% 37.5% 62.5%
per the test results of the noticing question three (χ2(1, N = 80) = 2.49, p = 0.115) and four (χ2(1,
N = 80) = 4.01, p = 0.045).The cross-tabulation of the noticing scores and the treatment revealed
the manner of variation among the treatment groups in terms of noticing the target forms (see
Table 6.2).
Grammar tasks results

The skewness and kurtosis for the distribution of the gain scores of grammar task one (imme-
diate post-test M = 0.69, SD = 0.76, skewness = −0.063 and SE = 0.241, kurtosis = −0.358
and SE = 0.478 and delayed post-test M = 0.34, SD = 0.78, skewness = 0.359 and SE = 0.241,
kurtosis = −0.346 and SE = 0.478) and grammar task two (immediate post-test M = 0.92, SD =
0.95, skewness = 0.193 and SE = 0.241, kurtosis = −0.476 and SE = 0.478 and delayed post-test
M = 0.64, SD = 0.95, skewness = 0.168 and SE = 0.241, kurtosis = −0.283 and SE = 0.478)
revealed that all the scores were normally distributed. The one-way ANOVA and partial eta-
squared results of the gain scores for these two tasks (see Table 6.3) demonstrated that though
there was a large effect of the treatment on the gain scores of these forms in the immediate
post-test for both of the tasks (grammar task one M = 0.69, SD = 0.76, (F(2, 97) = 10.82, p =
0.000, ηρ2 = 0.188; grammar task two M = 0.92, SD = 0.95, (F(2,97) = 31.93, p = 0.000, ηρ2 =
0.357), that effect size differed in the delayed post-test. In the delayed post-test, the treatment
had medium effect on the participants gain scores for grammar task one M = 0.34, SD = 0.78,
(F(2,97) = 1.85, p = 0.040, ηρ2 = 0.064), but it again had large effect on the case of the second
grammar task M = 0.64, SD = 0.95, (F(2,97) = 20.49, p = 0.000, ηρ2 = 0.297). The post hoc
Scheffe test of these mean gain scores for the grammar task one exposed further that though
there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the enhanced and the non-
enhanced groups, the control group differed from both of these groups statistically significantly
Table 6.3 Descriptive statistics for gain scores for the fill-in-the-blanks task
Tasks Immediate post-test Delayed post-test
Control Non-enhanced Enhanced Control Non-enhanced Enhanced

(N = 20) (N = 40) (N = 40) (N = 20) (N = 40) (N = 40)
M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD
Grammar 0.10 0.64 0.67 0.76 1.00 0.64 0.05 0.93 0.23 0.86 0.58 0.69
task one
Grammar 0.15 0.72 0.65 0.70 1.58 0.90 0.10 0.77 0.35 0.74 1.25 0.90
task two
88
in the immediate post-test. However, all the treatment groups’ mean gain scores in this grammar
task did not vary significantly in the delayed post-test. In contrast, the post hoc Scheffe test results
of these gain scores for the grammar task two revealed that the enhanced group outperformed
the other two groups in both of the post-tests, and the non-enhanced group did not differ sig-
nificantly in their mean gain scores from the control group in the delayed post-test.
Certainty judgement task results

The descriptive statistics for the certainty judgment task according to the treatment groups
were control M = 0.35 and SD = 0.81, non-enhanced M = 1.05 and SD = 0.81 and enhanced
M = 2.10 and SD = 0.6 in the immediate post-test and control M = 0.35 and SD = 0.81, non-
enhanced M = 1.05 and SD = 0.81 and enhanced M = 2.10 and SD = 0.67) in the delayed post-
test. One-way ANOVA along with the partial eta-squared results showed that the treatment had
a moderate effect on the certainty gain scores of the immediate (M = 1.33, SD = 1.02, F(2, 97) =
6.80, p = 0.002, ηρ2 = 0.123) and the delayed (M = 0.48, SD = 0.78, F(2,97) = 1.24, p = 0.000,
ηρ2 = 0.045) post-tests. The post hoc Scheffe tests of these gain scores further revealed that the
enhanced group performed better than the other two groups (non-enhanced and control) in a
statistically significant way in both of the post-tests.
Metalinguistic awareness task results

The results of a Pearson’s Chi-square test for the metalinguistic awareness task scores demonstrated
that the three groups (enhanced, non-enhanced, and control) did not vary with regard to their
understanding of the functions of the target forms the subject–verb agreement in the third
person singular (χ2(4, N = 100) = 4.64, p = 0.098) and plural (χ2(2, N = 100) = 6.25, p = 0.045)
forms of verbs in the present simple tense. Cross-tabulation was also performed on this awareness
task scores along with the treatment. Only 7.5% (N = 3) and 10% (N = 4) of the participants of
the enhanced group gained ‘partial understanding’ about the targeted singular and plural forms
of verb respectively, whereas the non-enhanced and the control groups failed to gain any kind of
understanding of these target forms.
Qualitative analysis of the data

Metalinguistic awareness task data were analysed qualitatively as well. The participants were
coded using serial numbers ranging from 1 to 40 for the enhanced and the non-enhanced groups
(N = 40), and from 1 to 20 for the control group (N = 20). On analysing the metalinguistic
awareness task data, it was found that most of the participants might have remained unsuccessful
in interpreting the targeted forms’ form–function mappings explicitly as they tended to examine
the noun–verb relationship in a mechanical way (Reid, 1991). Almost all the participants of this
study overgeneralised the rule that if the noun is singular then the suffix |-s| or |-es| will be
added at the end of the verb, but if the noun is plural then the verb will also be plural, that is, there
will be no addition of suffixes to the verb. The participants considered these grammatical rules as
‘the rule of thumb’ and might not have examined the contexts in which these rules were applied
in the texts (Scheffler & Cinciata, 2011). As a result, seven Enhanced Group Participants (EGPs)
replied that the target forms could be used according to ‘noun number and person’ (EGP 2, 3, 9,
16, 19, 28) and “when the SUB is singular use -s/-es after the verb and when the SUB is plural
we don’t use -s/-es after the verb” (EGP 1).Twenty-six other participants of this group reiterated
these views. Similar views were shared by the entire control group and the non-enhanced group.
89
Only seven EGPs were able to explain the subject–verb agreement relationship taking the
‘integral’ or ‘non-integral’ referential meaning of nouns into account. For example, two of these
participants mentioned that
A group sub but its meaning is singular that need singular verb es/s (EGP 23).
…some nouns are plural but still have s or es with them to mean more and verb is
plural for them as they many mean more groups work together (EGP 31).
Finally, it could be discerned from these data that only a few of the enhanced group participants
were able to examine the form–meaning mappings of the subject–verb agreement and thereby
gain some ‘partial understanding’ regarding the plural and the singular forms of verbs. In contrast,
most of the participants remained unsuccessful in achieving any kind of understanding of the
functions of these target structures.
Discussion
The first research question stipulated that the participants who received multiple exposure to
TE would notice the targeted forms more than the participants who were not exposed to that
input. This hypothesis was formulated based on Smith’s (1993) assertion that learner’s noticing
of target forms could be increased by giving multiple exposure to the input, and Truscott and
Smith’s (2011) argument that noticing is the simple awareness raised by learner’s current level of
Interlanguage (IL) that a specific form is present in the input. Therefore, it was expected that the
participants of the enhanced group would be able to notice the targeted forms more than their
counterparts, the non-enhanced group, in this study.This variation in noticing could be obtained
because the inflated saliency in the TE would be able to promote learner’s noticing more than
the non-inflated input (Nassaji & Fotos, 2011).
It was evident from the independent sample t-test results that the mean scores of the note-
taking task of the enhanced and the non-enhanced groups for the singular and the plural
forms of verbs in the targeted construction did not vary significantly from each other on the
first exposure. Any non-significant variations of taking notes on the first exposure might have
occurred because these constructions are one of the most complex forms to understand for the
EFL learners (DeKeyser, 2005). Therefore, on the first exposure the participants of the enhanced
group might not have been left with enough attentional resources to notice these forms of verbs
at a higher rate after comprehending the meaning of the texts, and taking notes of the noun
phrases which were also enhanced in the same targeted construction (VanPatten, 2007). As a
result, the gap regarding noticing the target forms were lessened between the enhanced and the
non-enhanced groups. In spite of these facts, the enhanced group’s note-taking scores for these
forms increased on the second exposure. This improvement in scores indicated that the multiple
exposure to the enhanced texts might have initiated the rehearsal procedure in those participants’
cognitive domain. Therefore, this repeated occurrence of those forms on the second exposure
might have facilitated noticing the targeted construction more than that of the first exposure
(Robinson, 1995).
Another significant finding of this research was that though a majority of the participants of
the enhanced (90%) and the non-enhanced (62.5%) groups responded positively that they had
noticed something particularly while reading the texts for the target forms (noticing question
one), only 52.5% of the participants of the enhanced group and 20% of the participants of the
non-enhanced group mentioned that they had noticed the targeted forms in their replies to
noticing question two. This difference in noticing might have been caused by the fact that some
90
of the participants of both groups might have considered ‘new’ or ‘meaningful information in the
texts as instances of noticing’ as well (Jahan, 2018). Therefore, a greater number of participants
responded in the affirmative in reply to noticing question one than two. In spite of that fact, the
enhanced group noticed more target forms than the non-enhanced group, and that variation was
statistically significant according to the noticing question scores.This kind of significant variation
of noticing between the enhanced and the non-enhanced groups was also identified by Jahan
(2018), Jahan and Kormos (2015), and Loewen and Inceoglu (2016).
However, there were some participants (47.5%) in the enhanced group who did not notice the
target forms specifically. This reduced noticing occurred due to the fact that these participants’
background experience of receiving deductive instructions, and using explicitly stated rules for
learning grammar might have constrained them from noticing the perceptually salient target
forms in the enhanced texts without any explicit instruction (Han, 2004).
As regards the first hypothesis, it can be concluded that TE of input was successful in drawing
more than half of the enhanced group participants’ attention to all the target forms in the
study. Thus, the hypothesis which assumed that the participants who received multiple exposure
to textually enhanced input would notice the targeted forms more than the other groups of
participants has found support in this study.
The second hypothesis was based on Doughty and Williams’ (1998) argument that FonF
procedures maintain that “… meaning and use must be evident to the learner at the time when
attention is drawn to the linguistic apparatus…” (p. 4). Since TE fulfils this criterion of FonF
(Nassaji & Fotos, 2011), it was expected that the exposure to enhanced texts would be able to
initiate learner’s comprehension of form to function mapping. Therefore, it was assumed that if
the enhanced and the non-enhanced groups’ participants comprehended the meaning properly
and noticed the target forms while reading the texts, then they would be able to understand the
targeted form to function mappings of those forms as well.
The metalinguistic awareness task data revealed that the achievement of understanding of the
targeted form–meaning mappings of the enhanced and the non-enhanced groups did not vary
from each other significantly. In addition, it was evident from the analysis of the noticing question
data that both of the groups noticed the target forms at a higher rate, but they considered the
grammar rules related to those same items at a lower rate in the treatment phase. The percentage
of the participants gaining understanding of the rules did not correspond to the percentage of the
participants who noticed or showed awareness about the targeted forms explicitly. This discrep-
ancy might have occurred due to the fact that the participants of both of the groups might not
have processed these forms beyond noticing stage due to the grammatical and learning complex-
ities related to these targeted items. Therefore, they might not have been able to achieve a higher
level of understanding about these forms.
In fact, the target forms were quite complex in terms of form–meaning mapping. The |-s|
morpheme (the grammatical marker for the singular verbs) in English is quite difficult to pro-
cess because of its morphological functions as plural -s, third person singular present -s and
possessive -s together with contracted allomorphs of copula and auxiliary -be (VanPatten, 2007).
Therefore, this bound morpheme might be quite challenging to process with its abstract meaning
in the third person singular forms of verbs which might sometimes seem redundant in terms of
meaning to the learners as well. Hence, it has less reliable form–meaning correlation (VanPatten,
2007). The forms, which have this type of difficulty, are called ‘opaque’ forms by DeKeyser
(2005). Because of having the various options for interpreting the form–meaning mappings of
the |-s| morpheme, the enhanced group participants might have faced difficulty in acquiring the
targeted forms.They might not have recognised the fact that the presence or absence of this |-s|
morpheme in verbs was related to the number of the nouns which denoted the combination
91
of entities integrally (for singular verbs) and non-integrally (for plural verbs). As a result of these
complexities, both enhanced and non-enhanced groups’ performances did not vary significantly
in gaining metalinguistic knowledge about those forms’ form–function mappings. This reduced
performance in achieving understanding about the subject–verb agreement forms could be
related to these two groups’ total gain scores in the post-tests as well.
Considering the findings with respect to grammar task one, the fill-in-the-blanks task (con-
trolled form production task), it could be determined that exposure to the enhanced texts and to
the non-enhanced input were found to be almost equally effective in the immediate post-test. In
contrast, both of the input was found to have significantly different impact on the participants’
grammar task two, choosing the correct form task (form recognition task), performance in both
of the post-tests. These findings made it evident that the enhanced group’s participants were
partially benefitted from the multiple exposure to the manipulated input immediately after the
exposure. Consequently, the enhanced group might not have been able to develop a deeper
understanding of these forms from their exposure (Schmidt, 1995, 2001; Smith, 1993).Therefore,
the TE was not supportive in processing the forms for intake and thereby acquisition. This claim
of the study regarding the impact of TE is similar to that of Jahan (2018), and Jahan and Kormos
(2015) who found no effect of TE on participants’ acquisition of the target forms.
All these findings regarding the target forms, therefore, suggested that in spite of receiving
multiple exposure to the enhanced input and having some pre-knowledge about the target
forms, learners might fail to achieve understanding about any of the targeted form’s form–
meaning mapping significantly from the exposure to mere TE. It was revealed further that most
of the participants of the enhanced (N = 37 for singular verb and N = 36 for the plural verb),
the non-enhanced (N = 40) and the control (N = 20) groups attempted to give ‘precise metalin-
guistic formulations’ for explaining the functions of the subject–verb agreement forms targeted
in this study (Scheffler & Cinciata, 2011, p. 21). Such formulation might have resulted from the
participants’ rule-based prior learning experiences of these forms at pre-tertiary level. Therefore,
the plural |-s| with the nouns representing number distinction, and the singular |-s| with the
verbs highlighting focus number differentiation might have seemed of low communicative value
or redundant to the participants. As a result, those grammatical developments might have been
blocked in their IL.
The blocking of learning intricate values imbued in the forms might have occurred due
to another significant fact that subject–verb agreement is not used in the participants’ L1.
Therefore, they might have attempted to determine the meaning of these forms ‘mechanically’
by overgeneralising the subject–verb agreement rule, and thereby undermining the integral or
non-integral reference of entities referred to by the nouns which were used as the subjects in
the sentences of the texts (Reid, 1991). Consequently, it was revealed from the metalinguistic
awareness task data that more than 95% of the participants of the study tended to explain the
functions of subject–verb agreement by stating the combination of memorised chunks which
might have been gathered from their commercial grammar books at the pre-tertiary level.
This approach to explaining the understanding about the subject–verb agreement also
suggested that the participants’ L1 and pre-experience of learning grammar by memorising
the explicitly stated rules was probably ‘overshadowing’ and thereby ‘blocking’ their process of
learning new items (Cintrón-Valentín & Ellis, 2016). In the case of these forms, the meaning of
|-s| morpheme could be explained using both traditional rule-based approach and the recent
meaning focused approach. Since the previous approach to teaching these forms was quite
explicit, that approach might have seemed more salient to the participants than the current
implicit meaning as well as form-focused technique. In addition, the participants might not have
been well aware of this recent approach. Therefore, it could be possible that the pre-knowledge
92
about the traditional approach to interpret subject–verb agreement might have been causing
difficulties in investigating these forms’ form–meaning mappings from a new meaning-based
perspective.
Collectively, all these findings contradicted what Lee (2007) argued in his study. Lee claimed
that an implicit technique such as TE could be more effective where learners would have
pre-knowledge about the target forms. Among others, Lee is of the mind that computations
are mechanical without semiotic variations. In this study, the participants had pre-knowledge
about the target forms. However, the semantic computations were not in their cognition.
Therefore, most of them did not attempt to distinguish the targeted forms in terms of focus
number variations, that is, by mentioning whether or not the targeted verb forms were related
to integral or non-integral entities. As a result, they obtained almost no success in the case
of learning the subject–verb agreement forms. These findings about the limited impact of
TE echoed what White (1998) indicated in her TE study conducted on the use of possessive
determiners.
In the light of the above discussion, it could be ascertained that the hypothesis concerning
the superior performance of the enhanced group in comprehending the targeted form–function
mappings was not supported by the findings of this study. All the evidence suggested that we
would need more explicit teaching techniques to draw learners’ attention to the meaning of these
non-salient forms, such as |-s| morphemes, otherwise learners might not be able to acquire the
meaning as well as the functions of these targeted items. Similar findings were also detected by
Indrarathne, Ratajczak, and Kormos (2018) who employed eye-tracking mechanism for meas-
uring the attentional processing of input under TE condition.
Recommendations and implications

Guided by all the findings of the study, and also considering the reality of large classes with
a preponderant deductive approach in teaching grammar, the use of TE with a measure of
explicit instruction to draw learners’ attention to the target form’s form–function mapping may
play a significant role for achieving greater success in teaching grammar in EFL contexts like
Bangladesh. Contextualised exposure to the target forms will enable learners to grasp gram-
matical forms for use in any type of communication: written or spoken. Protracted support will
enable acquisition of the TL and subsequently develop communicative competence, an indel-
ible aim of the CLT approach. In spite of the limited impact of TE found in this study, EFL
learners should still be given exposure to the use of the target forms in meaningful contexts
or texts because the rules of usage in English grammar books are general, simplified to a cer-
tain extent; instances of when other pragmatic demands negate the use of the rules are seldom
explained. Second/foreign language learners, whose exposure to English is limited, seldom
acquire the range of use of a certain grammatical feature. Texts exposing authentic use of a
grammatical feature with its larger pragmatic application can help to instil in the learners ideas
of appropriacy. A period of TE exposure can even make the elusive subject–verb agreement
rule accessible to learners not only in Bangladesh but also in Malaysia, China, as well as all over
the world where students also face problems in grasping this rule (Cowan, 2008). Therefore,
EFL teachers around the world should also be made aware of the learning difficulties related
to these forms so that they could support their learners appropriately. The findings clearly
demonstrate that memorisation will not be helpful in understanding grammar rules with their
embedded variations and L1/L2 contrasts. All the grammatical morphemes – bound or free,
salient or non-salient, frequent or non-frequent – can contribute to conveying message of
any text by carrying out distinctive functions. Due to all these factors, EFL learners should be
93
encouraged and thereby motivated to investigate the meaning of all kinds of forms in the input
by raising their awareness regarding form–function mappings.
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7
FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR
RESEARCH-BASED ACADEMIC
ENGLISH EDUCATION AT EFL
UNIVERSITIES
An evaluation of the context
Introduction
The higher education sector is constantly changing to meet new expectations of learners,
educators, and employment providers. Examples of the change include an enhanced focus
on research, innovation, and knowledge exchange in the academic practice (HEFCE, 2018).
As a result, universities are expected to facilitate research-based, transferable and long-lasting
learning (Stern, 2016). Academic English (AE) education is not an exception, rather the subject
has greater scope of accommodating research-based elements for its impacts on students’ overall
educational experience. On the one hand, AE shapes their academic identity and prepares
them for future professions and work (Bloome, Carter, Christian, Otto, & Shuart-Faris, 2005).
On the other, the scope of AE extends beyond personal studies as it advances students’ capacity
to interact with academic and professional partners, such as lecturers, peers, and workplace
colleagues (Bailey & Heritage, 2008). Because of these extensive academic and non-academic
applications, AE programmes have importance in learning journeys of students.
Generally, AE programmes in higher education refer to certain language and learning enhancement
schemes which are designed to help students build academic communication capabilities using
the English language. These programmes deal with specialised language skills, such as academic
writing, active reading, and oral presentation of ideas (Newton et al., 2018). In return, students
are expected to demonstrate interactional competence, confidence and, eventually, advanced
academic achievements. AE programmes are offered in both English as a mother tongue, and
English as a foreign language (EFL) educational settings.
The growing research-based education demands effective research-based AE programmes to
help students pursue real-world and applied learning. However, this is a complicated task for
at least two reasons. First, there are limited evidence and guidelines on research-based instruction
in AE field. Until now, AE research has been centred on content, grammar, and outcomes
of conventional teaching (DiCerbo, Anstrom, Baker, & Rivera, 2014). Second, the transfer
of international good practice of research-based AE education to Bangladeshi universities
is problematic because of the country’s unique contextual features. The role of context is
important in the design and implementation of any instructional model. Contextual factors,
96
Research-based academic English education
such as academic environment, stakeholders, and policies are powerful forces which implicitly
and explicitly motivate the associated learning strategies and actions (Tessmer & Richey,
1997). Therefore, a critical evaluation of context is vital in achieving realistic insights into
teaching and learning of any new educational models or approaches (Jamil, 2018). This chapter
is centred on the roles of contextual factors connected to the design and implementation of
research-based AE education. We use Research Informed Teaching (RIT) as the conceptual
base for understanding the factors as well as feasibility of research-based AE education in
Bangladesh higher education.
Advantages and challenges of research-based AE

Language is an indispensable element in human life including learning and formal education.
It is the medium of communication which enables learners’ engagement, exploration, and
performance (Manalo & Sheppard, 2016). Contemporary higher education concepts promote
research-based learning for its power to facilitate inquiry and shared learning (Tong, Standen,
& Sotiriou, 2018). The approach also helps lecturers teach through innovative and applied
learning activities (Biggs, 2011). Although research-based education demonstrates many
educational advantages, students and lecturers may face various difficulties in such an approach.
For instance, some lecturers may find it time and resource exhausting, and some students
may face difficulties in following unconventional and complex procedures of research-
teaching integration (Bak, 2015; Pan, Cotton, & Murray, 2014). Additionally, detrimental
roles of universities, such as inefficient and unhelpful management and leadership, may
obstruct aspirations and performances of lecturers and students in this kind of learning and
teaching approach.
RIT as the conceptual base

In higher education literature, various terms, such as inquiry-based teaching/learning, problem-
based teaching/learning, and RIT are usually used interchangeably to address the perspectives of
teaching–research nexus (Spronken-Smith & Walker, 2010). RIT is comparatively a new concept
which has gained interest among higher education academics (McLinden, Edwards, Garfield, &
Moron-Garcia, 2015). The approach is unique for its defined educational goals and procedures.
As discussed by Griffiths (2004), Healey (2005), and Jenkins, Healey, and Zetter (2007); RIT
practices can be divided into four categories: research-led, research-based, research-tutored, and
research-oriented (see Figure 7.1).The types, with their individual features, demonstrate whether
they are teacher- or learner-centred (Healy, 2005; cited in Jenkins & Healey, 2009).
(In Figure 7.1, one of the RIT categories is named as ‘research-based’ practice. In this chapter,
we have used this term to refer to inquiry-based education and RIT in general.)
In addition to the above four categories, Weller discussed the impact of RIT on teaching
and academic development (Weller, 2019). The concepts of RIT are expanding and there is
still a lack of holistic description of the approach. For example, many academics interpret RIT
narrowly without addressing its wide-ranging educational features (Spronken-Smith, 2012). The
discussion on the role of academic disciplines and research–teaching divides in RIT practices
is also very limited (Farcas, Bernardes, & Matos, 2017; Weller, 2019). It is reasonable to believe
that fresh definitions and unique disciplinary practices of RIT may arise while exploring
the approach in a new academic context. Particularly, the evidence drawn from any specific
educational setting may provide a rich understanding about how contextual actors interplay with
RIT strategies and activities.
97
Figure 7.1 RIT categories
Empirical evidence from Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, Bangla or Bengali is the first and the most applied language for social and business
communication. Bangla has a strong influence on the people’s education, commercial networks,
mobility, and employment (Erling, Hamid, & Seargeant, 2010). Because of economic restraints and
challenges to ensure adequate resources, the use of any foreign language in the country’s formal
education is problematic. However, historically, Bangladesh higher education sector considers the
learning and teaching of English obligatory and valuable. Although the medium of instruction
of the country’s mainstream primary to higher secondary education (Years 1–12) is Bangla; the
language of instruction at many universities (mostly private universities) is English, resulting in a
paradigm shift in the higher education practice.
In Bangladesh, there are 45 public and 103 private universities which generally follow
English-medium instruction in academic programmes (UGC, 2018). These institutions offer AE
courses to prepare students with the language skills needed to partake in academic activities.
Usually, they design AE courses and take approval from the University Grants Commission of
Bangladesh (UGC). UGC does not impose strict guidelines on the design and application of these
programmes. As a result, a diversity in the naming, educational objectives, content choice, and
pedagogic procedures is evident in different AE syllabuses. Although AE programmes are widely
taught at Bangladeshi universities, research on them is limited within language skills, assessment,
and teacher development fields (Sultana, 2014). Therefore, any studies on pedagogies linked to
research-based approaches can provide added perspectives.
Based on global evidence, RIT appears to be a promising pedagogic model for effective AE
education. It is conceivable that students can become more curious and face the real world by using
RIT.With this motivation in mind, we studied research-based AE education at Bangladeshi universities
through the lens of RIT concepts. The perceptions of students and lecturers gained in the research
suggest rethinking the long-established educational objectives, application of learning, academic
98
collaboration, and professional development aspects to materialise effective AE curriculum and

pedagogy (Jamil, 2020).The findings were strongly situated within the universities which participated
in the study. Hence, we felt the need to explore a strategy to evaluate the context which can be used
to gauge the feasibility of the educational model in other locations. In this chapter, we follow a
critical approach to evaluate contextual factors associated with research-based AE programmes in
Bangladesh higher education.We set our research boundaries within the following three questions:
• What contextual factors are significant in research-based AE education at Bangladeshi

universities?
• How do these factors affect the research-based AE practice?
• To what extent does the evaluation of the factors provide guidelines on research-based AE
education?
Methodology
Our evaluation of the context was inspired by Bhaskar, a champion theorist in the field of critical
investigation, who suggested to explore underpinning factors and their interweaving relationship
for understanding the features of any particular action.
we will only be able to understand-and so change-the social world if we identify the

structures at work that generate those events or discourses… [and this structures] can
only be identified through the practical and theoretical work of the social sciences
(Bhaskar, 1989, p. 2).
Robson in his critical approach to investigation concept showed connections between action,
mechanism, context and outcome (Robson, 2002). This provided us a theoretical framework
to explore contextual factors in research-based AE education at Bangladeshi universities. We
adapted Robson’s framework in line with our research field and the respective elements, namely
AE education, RIT approaches, context, and learning (see Figure 7.2).
We gathered perception data through a mixed methods research. We administered a
questionnaire-based survey with undergraduate students (n = 319) and conducted semi-structured
interviews with six AE lecturers.The tools helped the research participants share their experiences
and views on AE education and RIT practices with reference to several contextual factors. Some
class observations could provide more detailed data, but the method was not followed in this study
considering the perceptions and experiences drawn from the students and faculty members were
rich enough to gain reliable narratives.
Figure 7.2 Theoretical framework for context evaluation
99
Data collection
The survey and interviews were administered at two public and two private universities.The aim was
to explore the overall RIT practice in Bangladesh higher education; thus, variances between public and
private universities were assumed. The researchers’ personal experiences of working at Bangladeshi
universities suggested several differences, for example, students’ disparate academic and social
backgrounds, different admission procedures, and dissimilar class sizes at these two types of university.
In the survey, we followed probability sampling to choose the public and private universities and
recruited the students through simple random sampling technique. The numbers of survey participant
were comparable (public = 156 and private = 163).The survey questionnaire contained twenty-eight
items in three themes: fifteen on RIT-based AE practices (three items for each category), six on
learning environment, and three on the application of AE learning (Appendix I).The responses for the
items were in a five-point Likert scale (Likert, 1932).The remaining four items were on respondents’
gender, university type, academic discipline, and the medium of instruction in their previous
education.We assumed the term ‘Research Informed Teaching or RIT’ would be confusing because
of its novelty and lack of use in Bangladesh.Therefore, instead of using the term in the questionnaire,
we included plain statements conveying specific features of different RIT types (Appendix I).
Six lecturers, five males and one female, attended the interview sessions. The interviewees,
engaged through purposive sampling (Patton, 2005), consisted of three participants from public
and three from private universities. The semi-structured interviews were conducted online via
Skype by one researcher, and the questions were centred on lecturers’ concepts and practices
around research-based AE education (Appendix II). To acquaint the lecturers with research-based
or research-informed teaching concepts, they were provided with general definitions and examples
of the approach at the beginning of the interviews. The researcher explained the flexible nature
of these pedagogic terms as they represent different inquiry-based educational activities. Additionally,
he explained how some common approaches, for example, critical thinking and experimentation,
can facilitate research-based education. The interviews lasted about thirty minutes each. The
medium of conversation was Bangla, the first language of the researcher and the lecturers, which
enabled natural conversations. From the fifth interview, data saturation occurred as the lecturer
began repeating information that previous interviewers had already stated. It is plausible that
the key reasons for such recurrence of data at that stage were the limited number of interview
questions and their strong focus on research-based education. The sixth interview contained a
high proportion of data saturation; therefore, the interview phase ended after that session.
Data analysis
We used statistical software SPSS (Version 22) to process and analyse the survey data.We conducted
four tests: mean scores, bivariate correlation measurement, independent-samples t-test, and one-way
ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD (Honest Significant Difference). We audio-recorded the interviews,
transcribed them verbatim but only the relevant parts for the convenience of translation from Bangla
to English, and categorised the translated texts in individual themes. Then, we cross-evaluated the
themes with the survey results for achieving richer perspectives (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009).
Findings
This was a baseline study, and the findings provided insights into the roles of context leading
to future directions for research-based AE programmes in Bangladesh higher education. The
survey and interview data individually and together constructed a useful interpretation of
100
Table 7.1 Correlation between AE learning environment and RIT practices
Research- Research- Research- Research- Researching

led tutored based oriented teaching practice
Learning Pearson −0.052 0.420** 0.041 0.258** 0.122*

environment correlation
Significance 0.356 0.000 0.464 0.000 0.029
(two-tailed)
N 319 319 319 319 319
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (two-tailed).

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed).
research-based AE education and their connections with three key factors: learning environment,
graduate employability, and academic support and enhancement facility. The pedagogic aspects
of research-based AE education are reported in Jamil (2020), and we focused our discussion on
evaluating the learning environment and contextual factors in this chapter.
The bigger picture: Academic environment and the RIT practice

The bivariate correlation measurement identified different levels of linear relationship between
the learning environment and the RIT practice (Table 7.1).
Based on the five cut-off points proposed by Muijs which are <0.1 = weak, <0.3 = modest,
<0.5 = moderate, <0.8 = strong, and >0.8 = very strong (Muijs, 2011); the results showed a
mixed relationship between AE learning environments and different RIT practices (Table 7.1).
Specifically, the relationship was moderate while students analysed and discussed academic topics
critically (research-tutored), but it was weak while they analysed research outputs (research-
oriented) and lecturers examined their own teaching. Conversely, the results did not show any
significant correlation between the learning environments and lecturers’ use of research-driven
information in teaching (research-led) as well as students’ hands-on research practice (research-
based). This finding contradicts with previous research evidence showing impacts of learning
environments on students’ academic experiences and achievements (Fraser, 2012; Isiaq & Jamil,
2018; Richardson & Mishra, 2018). It is plausible that, apart from research-tutored activities,
other RIT practices did not influence AE learning environments significantly. Alternatively, the
students did not notice any major variances in their learning environments while partaking in
research-led and research-based activities. As a result, they did not recognise the roles and impacts
of the environment in their RIT practices.
However, the mean score for the learning environments was moderately high (Table 7.2),
indicating lecturers’ enhanced professional capabilities and students’ positive attitudes towards
Table 7.2 Student perceptions about RIT practices, environments, and applications
Mean Median Standard deviation
Research-led (lecturers use research findings) 3.5005 3.6667 0.76290

Research-oriented (students analyse research outputs) 3.3647 3.3333 0.76780
Research-based (students conduct research) 3.2048 3.3333 0.65652
Research-tutored (students analyse academic topics) 3.7315 3.6667 0.56757
Researching teaching practice (lecturers explore their practice) 3.6092 3.6667 0.51311
Learning environment 4.0178 4.0000 0.47310
Application of AE learning in other academic programmes/work 3.8537 4.0000 0.62851
101
Table 7.3 Difference based on university type (independent-samples t-test)
Indicator University Mean SD t-statistics p-value
Research-led Public 3.6369 0.80894 3.189 0.002

Private 3.3683 0.69267
Research-based Public 2.9703 0.51249 −6.701 0.000
Private 3.4321 0.70087
Research-oriented Public 3.0467 0.66929 −7.964 0.000
Private 3.6728 0.73225
AE sessions. Yet, the mean scores for RIT practices and applications were comparatively low,
indicating the need for improving students’ research activities and exposures of using AE learning
while studying other subjects.
The independent-samples t-test and one-way ANOVA test results revealed three areas of
significant difference on the types of university where the students were studying, their respective
academic disciplines, and the medium of instruction they had received in their previous
education (Tables 7.3 and 7.4). We used Tukey’s HSD to identify the specific areas of difference
in the ANOVA scores.
With regard to the difference, public university students reported more research-led activities
in AE education, whereas private university students considered they had more research-based
and research-oriented activities (Table 7.3). The findings may be interpreted as the private
university students received more opportunities to conduct research and analyse academic issues,
and public university lecturers used more research outputs in AE teaching. These pedagogic
practices can be explained through Healy’s student-centred (research-based and research-tutored)
and teacher-centred (research-led and research-oriented) RIT paradigms. The findings suggest
comparatively a more learner-centred AE education at private universities. However, based on
these results, we cannot draw a conclusion for all Bangladeshi universities because they, both public
and private universities, follow individual and tailored AE programmes.Therefore, the educational
environments and student learning activities in AE education at different universities may vary
and have different extents of correlation. Moreover, several other educational features may have an
influence on the nature of AE education. For example, high student numbers and less class hours,
which are common at many public universities, may have influenced teachers to become more
teacher centred. Academic culture of different disciplines is another possible factor. According
to the data, the application of AE learning was maximum in science discipline and minimum in
humanities (Table 7.4).This situation can be interpreted by Shulman’s ‘signature pedagogy’ concept
which describes the existence of various discipline-specific forms of teaching and learning
Table 7.4 Differences based on academic discipline and language of instruction in previous education
(ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD)
(I) Discipline/ (J) Discipline/ Mean Standard

Dependent variable language of instruction language of instruction difference (I–J) error Sig.
Application of learning Science Social Sciences 0.22924* 0.07726 0.009

Humanities 0.52660* 0.08453 0.000
Social Sciences Humanities 0.29736* 0.08758 0.002
Learning environment Bangla English 0.18756* 0.05527 0.002
* The statistically significant differences are flagged.
102
in higher education (Shulman, 2005). Regarding AE learning environments, there was a

significant difference of perception between the students from Bangla- and English-medium
educational backgrounds (Table 7.4). Those who had studied in Bangla medium were more
positive towards the AE learning environment. It is possible that Bangla-medium students found
AE education more resourceful and engaging compared to their previous educational experiences.
Conversely, the students with English-medium background may have experienced less challenges
in research-based AE classes because of their prior exposures of research-based educational
activities. However, there is no empirical evidence available to support these assumptions.
The data did not show any significant difference in the RIT practice based on gender, learning
environment, and applications of AE learning in other subjects. Similarly, based on university
type, there was no significant difference in students’ perceptions regarding learning environment,
lecturers’ research on personal teaching practice, and application of learning in other academic
programmes and professional work.
Overall, the data show the impacts of learning environment, university type and students’
background (academic discipline and medium of instruction in previous education) on research-
based AE education. The following summary can be drawn from the findings.
• In Bangladesh, public universities generally have spacious campuses and classrooms, and the
AE programmes in these institutions often contain less teaching hours. Conversely, student
numbers at private university AE classes are generally small. Despite these differences, both
public and private university students found similar teaching and learning environments in
AE classes. A possible reason for this common ground is the non-lab-based nature of AE
education which minimised resource-gaps. It is also likely that both types of university had
comparable AE teaching workforce and similar levels of student effort, indicating comparable
student motivation in AE education.
• The extents of the research on personal teaching practices by public and private university
lecturers were similar. This indicates a professional culture of being reluctant to evaluate and
adjust AE teaching practices (Table 7.2).
• Public and private university students reported similar levels of application of their AE learning
in other academic programmes and professional work. This indicates a common disciplinary
practice where the levels of application of AE learning by students studying comparable
academic programmes at different public and private universities are similar.
• Both male and female students found themselves performing equally in research-based
learning activities. This is a useful evidence demonstrating comparable perseverance and
capabilities of Bangladeshi male and female students in higher education to partake in
research-based education.
Contextual factors: Seeing in depth

The interview findings illustrated the state of RIT practice in Bangladesh higher education
and its links with three key contextual factors: learning culture, professional requirements, and
university leadership and support mechanism. The lecturers shared opinions on prospects and
challenges of RIT practices. A critical analysis of the contextual factors and RIT practices
provide useful guidelines on implementing effective research-based English language education
at Bangladeshi universities. In reporting the findings, we use code names to ensure anonymity of
the interviewees: (i) PB1, PB2, and PB3 are for public university lecturers and (ii) PR1, PR2, and
PR3 for private university lecturers.
103
Learning culture
In Bangladesh, the medium of instruction in mainstream primary, secondary, and higher
secondary education is Bangla. On the contrary, academic programmes are taught in English
at many universities. It is likely that students face various language-related challenges while
accomplishing higher studies. Additionally, research practices at the secondary and higher
secondary levels are almost absent making any research-based education new and problematic at
universities (Anwaruddin & Pervin, 2015; Rahman, Hamzah, Meerah, & Rahman, 2010). PR3
reflected on this gap and suggested to add more value-added features, such as inquiry and analysis
in higher education programmes. PB1 believed the main objective of the traditional English
language teaching in Bangladesh higher education is to prepare students to pursue academic
studies conveniently. According to PR3, although the learning involves some research-like and
hands-on activities, the content of AE programmes is often general and non-technical. Yet, some
universities offer Business English programmes which PR1 considered inadequate.
At our university, we have a Business English course.The programme is not for all, only
the advanced level students get a chance to take this course… I know they (students of
Business English) are privileged, but other students also need this course, although some
disciplines do not require this … (PR1).
The lecturers mentioned the need for using multidisciplinary content in AE education so that
students can gain useful academic skills as well as understand complex disciplinary fields and
their intertwining links. According to PB2, Bangladesh higher education often demonstrates
a ‘text-book centred and unadventurous’ learning culture which cannot develop long-term
and transferrable skills. This indicates the lack of provision on learning applications in personal,
social, and professional domains in the traditional AE education. PR3 reflected on this issue and
believed applied forms of instruction is required to overcome this limitation.
it is not always possible to organise practice-based learning activities. But why should
they (students) learn a subject which they cannot use?… I am not ignoring the
lack of time and resources we get for teaching, but we should find some alternative
ways… (PR3).
Presently, educators and researchers are suggesting to include applied learning provision in higher
education which necessitates facilitating inquiring mind and enhanced learning experiences for
students (Boss, 2015).These new expectations also involve authentic and lifelong learning, which
can benefit industries and societies (Marris, 2018; Tomlinson, 2017). Bangladeshi universities
cannot bypass these demands and deprive the students from achieving applied and long-term
education. One of the common shortcomings of AE education in the country is that it often
does not fulfil the needs of industries and professions (Khan & Chaudhury, 2012; Roshid &
Webb, 2013). The survey findings in the previous section show a comparatively low application
of students’ AE learning in other academic subjects and profession-related activities (Table 7.2).
We assume this form of less-applied education demotivates students as they do not find the
learning useful in the long run. The findings indicate the necessity of research-based education
in AE programmes in Bangladesh higher education, and signal potential benefits of real-world
and applied learning culture for students.
The interview data also echo the need for an external-facing approach in the existing learning
culture which aligns with the call for promoting civic engagement in educational practices
104
(O’Connor, 2006). PB2 suggested to apply AE learning ‘for the greater good of the society and
people’, and PB3 explained how AE can address this objective.
We teach students from all departments. They (students) bring different perspectives in
English classes. Sometimes I ponder, my class is a true picture of the society, some are
future engineers, economists … I think we are not utilising this opportunity, I mean
we are not allowing them to think together for the betterment of the society … (PB1).
External-facing and applied features of education have powers to improve the overall quality of
AE learning culture. It can equip students with self-confidence and practical viewpoints (Lucas
& Guy, 2013; Maxwell, Stobaugh, & Tassell, 2017). Additionally, lectures get opportunities to
implement creative and dynamic lessons and assessment schemes. In the learning and teaching in
higher education, the role of assessment is vital as it is one of the most important determiners of
the extent and quality of learning (Jessop, El Hakim, & Gibbs, 2014).
Graduate employability
In the current competitive economy, employment providers generally prefer to recruit
professionally competent people as employees (Dugan, 2012). Therefore, preparing ‘globally
minded, work-ready graduates’ is an important task for higher education institutions (Martin, 2018,
p. 15). The role of AE is vital in student learning in higher education. However, the interview data
did now show any significant practice in this area in traditional AE education. According to
PB2, AE programmes at Bangladeshi universities are mainly General English courses which are
inadequate in improving students’ technical and professional skills. When PR2 was asked if the
AE programmes supply graduate employability skills, the response was not very encouraging.
Many of my lessons are skills-based. I want to see if they (students) can write a cv or a job
application, in fact I check if they can follow the format and use correct English… My
focus is not the employability skills, I check the language and structures of their work.
The lecturers indicated issues of employability loosely while discussing research-based AE

education. PR1, PR3 and PB3 claimed that, generally, the key motivation of many students
studying at universities is to secure a job. Referring to the ongoing economic development of the
country, PR1 highlighted the need for a strong workforce who are trained through “that kind of
education which can prepare them (students) to work in national and international organisations”.
However, PR2 thought many university students do not recognise the value of language
competence in higher studies and future employment.The same lecturer also mentioned that “most
students take AE courses as a survival factor; they do not have any passion or personal interest for
this subject” (PR2). Providing authentic employability skills is another problem as PB3 believed
“many lecturers are not creative enough… (and) many do not have any industry experience at all”.
I literally have zero idea about the IT industry. It is not possible for me to know the
expectations of IT companies in terms of language and communication skills. However,
sometimes I try finding related content on the Internet and use them in my class,
although I am not sure if my students like them (PB3).
Despite various challenges, the lecturers acknowledged the importance of embedding employ-
ment skills in AE education. This can be done through discipline-focused teaching and learning
105
along with industry-facing or profession-related academic approach. The interview data explained
how research-based AE programmes can help students gain mastery over disciplinary knowledge
using English and apply them within and beyond academic purposes. PB3 claimed, “research-
based education may work well as it is student-centred where students can apply their individual
knowledge and strategies to accomplish academic tasks”. However, there may be a question why
AE programmes should be discipline-based while higher education is largely interdisciplinary.
The very nature of AE education can probably answer this issue as this subject is largely skills-
based and the gained skills should be utilisable while studying other academic subjects.Therefore,
a discipline-focused approach in AE education can potentially serve two important purposes:
building transferable language skills and providing exposures of educational practices associated
with respective academic disciplines and relevant professions.
The findings suggest addressing graduate employability needs in research-based AE education.
In this regard, a focus on students’ academic disciplines, and lecturers’ understanding of relevant
industries appeared as essential requirements.
Academic support and enhancement facility

The survey findings reported students’ mixed experiences with the academic environments,
practices, and applications of research-based education (Tables 7.3 and 7.4). The lecturers also
informed contradictory views among their colleagues which projected challenges while embracing
research-based AE education. For example, PR2 described the implementation of ‘outcome-
based curriculum’, a new educational approach, at her university which she believed caused
professional conflicts among the colleagues. This reaction is not surprising because varied
pedagogic practices may co-exist in the same academic discipline, and different lecturers may
perceive the impacts and suitability of the same approach differently. Therefore, it is practical that
research-based AE education may not be accepted equally by all lecturers. Moreover, the new
teaching and learning procedures may not be performed equally because of the lecturers’ variant
levels of professional capability. Furthermore, the struggle enabled by the top-down process of
education system may act as a barrier while adapting new educational approaches. In this connection,
PR3 reported that the management bodies are sometimes apprehensive considering if the research
of their teaching staff reveals any negative findings of the learning and teaching at their university.
The lecturers shared some common myths around research-based education. PR1 said, some
lecturers believe undergraduate students are not ready for research or research-based education.
However, there are evidence that students in their initial years of higher education can perform
well in research-based academic activities (Tong et al., 2018).Yet, these studies mainly reflect the
perspectives of developed countries; thus, the findings need to be contextualised carefully. In this
connection, action research or the studies on teaching can help lecturers gauge the quality of
professional practice and its impacts within a particular context (Carr & Kemmis, 2003). PB2
and PR1 indicated the need for enhancing lecturers’ personal research capacity and expertise to
contextualise research findings emerged in other educational settings. They also placed an
emphasis on evaluating study material and personal teaching while reflecting on possible
challenges of implementing research-based AE education. In this connection PB3 mentioned
the gap of subject-based professional development schemes at his university.
Academic English teaching is different from teaching of other subjects. So far, I have
probably received more than half a dozen professional training at my university, some
of them were on teaching skills, but they provided very little guidelines which I could
use in my field…(PB3).
106
PB3’s experience suggests the need for specialised and focused professional development
opportunities for the lecturers of research-based AE education. However, it may be unrealistic
to expect a rapid change in terms of teaching quality in this new academic practice. Historically,
because of many age-long academic conventions and strongly rooted professional beliefs,
educational changes at universities across the world are a slow process (Gibbs, 2015). The process
is complicated as many faculty members do not accept new teaching approaches easily which are
radically different from their personal language learning experiences.
I have been teaching Academic English for more than six years, still I am nervous
whether I can teach language through pure research activities … If I had some research-
based learning experience, I could have more confidence (PB2).
Globally, there are some misconceptions about research-based approaches, for example, lectures with
no or little research expertise, and non-research-focused universities cannot implement this type of
educational model (Jessop & Wu, 2017). It is reasonable that many lecturers and institutional leaders in
Bangladesh higher education will not feel confident to accept research-based AE education, believing
the approach is unconventional and resource demanding. Conversely, the lecturers in their interviews
mentioned several benefits of research-based AE education. For example, AE programmes are
non-lab based, thus incorporating research components in them mainly requires adopting creative
pedagogy linked to exploration, scientific evidence, and collaboration. These academic activities
can be arranged with a small budget, but the impacts will be high (PB2).
Overall, the results show the need for a change in the perceptions of lecturers and students
while designing and implementing research-based AE programmes at Bangladeshi universities.
The findings also emphasised the role of senior management staff in the process. University
leaders are expected to create a dialogic and collaborative culture which is essential to facilitate
effective learning and teaching (Fullan, 2002). Additionally, they should extend proper guidelines
for university-wide change programmes, for example, reforming assessment schemes and
professional development provisions.The change process does not seem to be challenging for the
public universities because they are autonomous in terms of academic affairs and decision making.
The private universities also can plan their own academic programmes and implement them with
approval from the UGC.Therefore, these two types of university can easily and speedily adopt any
appropriate research-based educational approach for the effective learning and teaching of AE.
Conclusion
Global studies evidence strengths of research-based education in facilitating intellectually
stimulating learning. RIT provides defined pedagogic approaches for such teaching and learning
involving inquiry, experimentation, and analysis. To keep aligned with this dynamic educational
paradigm, there is a need for considering research-based AE education. However, the implementation
of such a new teaching and learning model requires localisation or contextual adjustments
through understanding the implications of the approach within specific academic settings.
Our empirical study shows a critical evaluation approach to understand contextual factors of
research-based AE education at Bangladeshi universities. The perceptions and experiences of
students and lecturers suggest three key factors to address. First, it recommends addressing the
traditional learning culture at universities and exploring how it encourages and accommodates
applied and long-term learning for students. Second, it emphasises the requirement of addressing
graduate employability provision which is an important goal of higher education in Bangladesh.
Third, it shows the need for creating effective academic support mechanism to help lecturers
107
and students find their research-based AE education aligned with the university’s ethos and
operational procedures. Overall, the study suggests ensuring context-friendly and inclusive
educational environment which can accommodate students from different academic
backgrounds and supply specialised academic and profession-related applications in research-
based AE education.
However, it may not be an easy task to fulfil the demands emerged from the above contextual
factors and transform the entire educational practice within a short span of time. For example,
it may become difficult to establish proper research support mechanism for lecturers if uni-
versity leaders consider this resource-demanding and unnecessary for effective teaching. It
may also become challenging to motivate different types of student about the importance of
research-based AE education for academic success. Another possible difficulty is the standardisation
of AE syllabuses, particularly the assessment schemes and expected learning outcomes for
specific academic disciplines. In higher education curricula, a wide variance is evidenced in
terms of pedagogic procedures and learning outcomes in different academic disciplines. For this
reason, the design and implementation of research-based educational approaches may become
significantly different in different disciplines. This may create imbalances in terms of learning
gains and satisfaction among students studying different subjects. Furthermore, developing
independent support-systems at universities may not be possible if the university budget is
insufficient and there is a lack of relevant policies.Yet, for ensuring useful and long-term learning
for students, Bangladeshi universities can consider embedding research-based approaches within
AE education. Although the creation of such an educational culture is a lengthy and complicated
process, Bangladeshi universities can adopt this modern and dynamic approach through well-planned
professional development initiatives and modernised curriculum frameworks.
The findings detailed in this article are derived primarily from a small number of higher
educational institutes. Therefore, they may not replicate the academic culture and resources of
other Bangladeshi universities fully. The research conduction time is another important aspect
of evaluation which can be seen from historical and developmental viewpoints. Besides, it is
plausible that the discussed contextual factors are just a few of many aspects, such as greater
education policies and socio-political cultures. However, the context-related insights and
educational directions achieved through this study can be considered as useful baseline
understanding relevant to the AE programmes at similar higher educational institutions,
particularly those situated within EFL environment, low-resource context and developing
economy.
The study provides an important lesson which is contextualising evidence and recommendations
of any teaching–learning model according to the features of the target educational settings
and associated actors, such as lecturers, students, and administrative systems. The approach also
demands an inclusive and thorough investigation of the educational policies and procedures.
A critical and realistic approach to evaluating context emerges as an essential requirement in
designing and implementing effective research-based Academic English education at universities
in Bangladesh. The approach appreciates the expectations from and capacity of the Bangladesh
higher education sector. Additionally, it emphasises the need of addressing application and
sustainability issues in foreign language education in a complex and constantly changing world.
108
Appendix I: (survey questionnaire)

1. Gender
2. University type
3. Academic discipline
4. Instructional language in previous education
5. In the course, lecturers used a variety of techniques.
6. Lecturers used research findings from books, journal articles, etc. in teaching.
7. In the classes, I asked questions for clarification and new information.
8. There were learning activities on evaluating research papers/works.
9. The course contents were generally difficult to understand.
10. The courses required my full effort to get good grades.
11. There were group learning activities.
12. Lecturers continuingly observed my learning related performances.
13. I conducted literature review as part of my studies.
14. There were discussion-based seminars and workshops.
15. I used my learning from English language courses in other academic courses.
16. Lecturers encouraged me to study research-based educational materials.
17. The courses taught me how to conduct a research.
18. There were learning activities on analysing data or information.
19. Overall, the learning activities were interesting.
20. I collected data using survey, interview, etc. as part of my coursework.
21. I used my learning from English language courses in non-academic activities.
22. The courses taught me techniques of describing graphs, figures, etc.
23. I learned referencing techniques.
24. Lectures modified the courses according to my classmates’ learning needs.
25. Lecturers included personal research works in teaching.
26. I wrote a research paper under the supervision of a faculty member.
27. Lecturers used technology in the teaching.
28. My learning from English courses is helpful in the preparation/application for a job.
Appendix II: (interview questions)

• What does ‘teaching’ typically look like in AE programmes at your university?
• When you hear the phrase ‘Research Informed Teaching’ or ‘research-based teaching’, what
comes to your mind?
• What challenges do you face (or may face) while preparing RIT for your AE lessons?
• Apart from lecturers and students, who do you consider play an important role in the RIT
practice in your AE programmes?
Supplementary questions for further clarification (examples): ‘Why do you think so?’, ‘Can you
give an example of this?’, and ‘Do your colleagues perceive this in the same way?’
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PART III
Assessment and testing in ELT

8
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ASSESSMENT IN BANGLADESH
Washback effect of current practices
and the way forward
Rubina Khan
Introduction
The Bangladeshi education system is characterised by high-stakes testing, and examination results
have a huge impact on student lives – admission to prestigious universities are made on the basis
of test scores. There are mainly two national high-stakes board examinations – the Secondary
School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) examinations. The
tests results from these examinations are pivotal in directing future career decisions and they can
either open doors for high achievers or close doors for low achievers. Since both the teaching
curriculum and learning standards are centred on these examinations, it is perceived that
examinations may often elicit an undesirable washback effect.
This chapter is divided into two sections. The first section introduces the status of English
in Bangladesh, key definitions, and insights from testing literature. The second section shares
findings of a small-scale descriptive and exploratory study to gauge the impact of the SSC and
HSC examinations. Finally, the way forward is highlighted.
Background
In post-independent Bangladesh, English language education has evolved through a gradual pro-
cess of policy changes.The language underwent a quick change of status from a second language
(ESL) to a foreign language (EFL) and was withdrawn from the primary and general BA exam-
ination at the tertiary level (Rahman, 2015). However, it continued to be taught as a subject at
the secondary and higher secondary levels of education, and the importance of English has been
reiterated in different educational and policy documents. In 1974, the Bangladesh Education
Commission stated, “Even after the introduction of Bangla as the medium of instruction at all
levels of education; the necessity will remain for English to be learned as a foreign language…for
historical reasons and for the sake of reality, English will continue as a foreign language” (p. 61).
In 1986, English was reinstated to be taught as a compulsory subject in the curriculum from
Grade 1 to Grade 12.The Ministry of Education (2010) and the National Curriculum Policy (2012)
also emphasised the importance of teaching and learning English alongside Bangla. Notably, the
National Curriculum (2012) highlights the role of English which is vital to “achieve developments
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Rubina Khan
in science, technology, higher education, business industry and particularly in communications

and IT skills” (p. 73).
In the social arena, English is considered the language of the elite and educated strata of
the society. Those who can speak English fluently are highly valued and have access to the
best in-country and international jobs. Although English remains a compulsory curricular sub-
ject, and its demand in professional society has increased to a great extent, standards have not
improved despite students having 12 years of continuous exposure to English (Rahman & Cotter,
2014; Seargeant & Earling, 2011). The looming question is: “Who is to blame for the differ-
ently able English learners to exist?” The general perception is that the education system and
examinations are responsible. However, this is an area which requires in-depth exploration and
investigation. Therefore, this chapter seeks to examine the washback effects of the two dominant
public examinations – SSC and HSC, to share views and recommendations from a range of
stakeholders involved in the study and provide directions for the way forward.
Literature review
This section will provide some key definitions and overview of some washback studies.
High-stakes tests
The results of high-stakes tests impact important life decisions and have serious consequences
on student lives, while equally affecting guardians. Examples of high-stakes tests are univer-
sity admission tests, which have been further complicated by the existence of standardised tests
like IELTS and TOEFL. Good scores in these examinations are a prerequisite for entrance into
prestigious institutions at home and abroad. The dominant effect of high-stakes testing is that
curricular content is shortened, subject area knowledge is broken into test-related pieces, and
teacher-centred pedagogy is increased (Au, 2007).
Washback and impact

Washback is the influence of testing on teaching and learning. Washback can be beneficial or
harmful (Hughes, 1989). “A test providing beneficial washback positively influences what and
how teachers teach, what and how learners learn, and offers learners a chance to prepare for the
test” (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010, p. 38). Conversely, if a test does not yield desirable effects
on teaching and learning, this will produce a harmful washback effect on teachers and students
(Alderson & Wall, 1993).
There is “a natural tendency for both teachers and students to tailor their classroom activities
to the demands of the test, especially when the test is important to the future of the students,
and pass rates are used as a measure of success” (Buck, 1988, p. 17). Shohamy (1992) refers
to ‘washback’ as the ‘powerful outcome of external tests which influence the test takers lives’.
Shohamy (1993, p. 4) adds that “measurement driven instruction refers to the notion that tests
should drive learning, curriculum alignment focuses on the connections between testing and
teaching the syllabus”.
There is a tripartite relationship between testing, teaching, and learning. While washback can
promote or hinder learning objectives, it is evidently the effect of high-stakes tests that exercise
control over teaching and learning processes. It is important to examine the effect of tests on
students as Hamp-Lyons (2000) states that among all the stakeholders in testing events, test takers
have the highest stake of all.
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English language assessment
Washback, though confined to the boundaries of classroom and institutions, has an impact
beyond the classroom.This impact works on two levels: “a macro level, in terms of the societal or
educational system in general and a micro level, in terms of the individuals who are affected by
the particular test use” (Coombe, 2018, p. 24).Test impact and washback have been connected to
the concept of consequential validity and implications of test use (Schissel, 2018), and Messick
(1989) cautions us that tests are unable to measure all the possible indicators of achievement.
Overview of major washback studies

There is a rich literature on washback studies conducted in different parts of the world. The
highlights of some major studies on washback are outlined in the following. Alderson and Wall’s
(1993) seminal large-scale study on washback conducted in Sri Lanka identified 15 hypotheses
demonstrating the influence of tests on a range of factors starting from teachers, students, contents,
methods, degree, depth and teaching, and learning attitude. It was pointed out that important
examinations have washback and unimportant examinations are devoid of washback.This impact
study worked as a spring board for further studies on washback by Bailey (1996), Cheng (2005),
Green (2007), and Shih (2007). The findings revealed the importance of examinations as drivers
of teaching and learning and indicated the washback effect of examinations. Further, a cluster
of studies in Turkey (Akin, 2016; Cinkara & Tosun, 2017; Hatipoğlu, 2016) also showed how
washback influenced teaching methodologies and teaching styles and demonstrated how tests
directed the path of teaching and learning. The findings revealed that only partial language skills
were assessed and teachers focused on helping students to master the test items.
In the South Asian context, studies on washback have been conducted in Afghanistan, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and the findings of some of these studies have
highlighted a number of areas indicating negative washback (Khaniya, 1990; Khitab, Ghaffar,
Zaman & Ali, 2016; Kirkpatrick & Gyem, 2012; Mathew, 2012; Soomro & Shah, 2016). The
following major areas were identified: test-driven mindset, focusing on reading and writing in
class and in examinations, gap between curriculum intention and curriculum reality, misalign-
ment between curriculum objectives and test objectives, test preparation culture, flawed test
design, time pressure, and lack of assessment literacy.
In the context of Bangladesh, there are few research studies on washback and its impact.
The majority of available studies demonstrate the harmful washback effect of testing. Hoque’s
(2016) study on the washback effect of HSC examinations revealed a number of aspects related
to teaching and learning in Bangladesh. First, results showed that teachers do not understand
the difference between teaching to the test and teaching to the syllabus. Second, the study
demonstrated student dependence on guide books, test papers, and suggestions, thus indi-
cating a lack of alignment between curriculum objectives, classroom teaching, and the test.
Maniruzzaman (2016) reported that instead of focusing on learning language, students at the
tertiary level invested more time on test preparation. In a large-scale washback study on the
HSC exam in Bangladesh, Hoque (2011) concluded that the exam exerted a strong negative
washback on a number of aspects – classroom teaching, syllabus, curriculum, content, method-
ology, and learning. The curriculum was condensed, and teaching emphasised what would be
on the test, thus practicing teacher-centred pedagogy. For example, test preparation materials
such as guides, test papers, and model questions were used. However, Hoque’s (2011) study did
not report the causes behind this negative washback effect. Maniruzzaman and Hoque’s (2010)
study on HSC students and Maniruzzaman’s (2012) study of SSC students echo the findings of
earlier studies in the context. For instance, teachers often condensed the syllabus to accommo-
date test preparation.
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Rubina Khan
Earlier, Khan (1999) in her study of the evaluation of the writing component of the HSC
syllabus had pointed out that questions on the HSC exam are often repeated and thus pre-
dictable. This encourages students to engage in rote memorisation. Additionally, the classroom
observations revealed that instead of developing the writing skill, teachers practice only writing
tasks which are likely to appear in the examination.
Though the curriculum emphasises the goal of attaining communicative competence, most
classroom activities are directed towards test preparation. Khan (2010) noted that the assessment
of the speaking skill, a component which may have remarkable effect on language learning, is
missing from both the SSC and HSC examinations. Podder (2013) pointed out the discrepancy
between policy and practice with regard to the assessment of speaking skills at the secondary and
higher secondary levels. Das, Shaheen, Shrestha, Rahman, and Khan (2014) also point to the gap
between the curriculum objectives and the test content.
In a recent study, Al Amin and Greenwood (2018) contend that examinations in Bangladesh
do not evaluate learning according to goals specified in the national curriculum. Instead, a nega-
tive washback effect is manifested through the use of prescriptive and condensed exam-based
syllabi. They reveal a similar situation where examinations control all teaching and learning.
Sultana (2018a) in her review summarised four aspects of teaching and learning affected by
washback: teachers and teaching; mismatch between the objectives of the curriculum and the
test, and between the curriculum objectives and the teaching syllabus; learners and learning and
test design.
Based on the above study findings, it may be stated that examinations are at the heart of educa-
tion and hence considered to be a dominant criteria for evaluating teaching and learning success
in Bangladesh. This in turn seems to induce an exam-oriented mindset in teachers and learners,
leading to the existence of a strong culture of test preparation and thereby demonstrating the
strong washback effect of examinations.
Taking into consideration all the above-mentioned issues, this study investigated the washback
effect of the current assessment practices with regard to the two large-scale high-stakes public
examinations in Bangladesh.
The study
Methodology
This small-scale study, exploratory and descriptive in nature, follows the mixed-methods approach
to document the impact of high-stakes SSC and HSC examinations in Bangladesh.
Instruments
The data collection tools used in the study were (1) survey questionnaires, (2) semi-structured
interviews, and (3) focus group discussion (FGD) with participants. Survey questionnaires were
given to both teachers and students. Teachers and students were also interviewed and were part
of FGDs. Administrators and guardians were engaged in face-to-face interviews as well as FGDs.
Study participants
This study adopted convenience sampling for selecting the participants considering their avail-
ability, easy accessibility, geographical proximity, and willingness to participate. The schools and
colleges chosen for the purposes of the study were a mixture of government, semi-government,
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and private institutions. The schools and colleges chosen for the purposes of this study were a
mixture of co-education and single-sex schools.
Data were collected from 50 teachers, 50 students, 10 administrators, and 15 guardians. Of the
50 teachers, 25 (19 males and 6 females) were from five schools and 25 (16 females and 9 males),
from three colleges located in Dhaka and its outskirts. Teachers had varied work experience:
among the school teachers, seven were between 28 and 36 years, eight between 37 and 45 years,
and ten above 45 years old. Of the college teachers, 13 were between 28 and 36 years, eight
between 37 and 45 years, and four above 45 years old. Of the 50 students, 25 (10 males and
15 females) were from schools and 25 (13 males and 12 females) were from colleges. The school
participants were between 14 and 17 years, while the college participants were between 18 and
20 years. The administrators comprised of National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB)
and Examination Board personnel (4 + 2) and school and college Principals (4). Finally, data
were collected from 15 guardians (parents) of both SSC and HSC level students. Face-to-face
interviews were conducted via structured interview questions and FGDs were also carried out
with the respondents for in-depth information.
Data collection procedure

Before the distribution of questionnaires, survey questions were piloted on a group of students to
assess the level of difficulty and clarity of the questions. Feedback was also collected on the items
from two colleagues in the field and necessary revisions were made to the questionnaires. The
survey questionnaires were in English, but respondents had the option to answer in either English
or Bangla. The interviews were conducted in Bangla and the rationale was that the respondents
would be able to reflect on selected components in an effective way in their mother tongue.
Survey questionnaires were distributed by the researcher, while some were sent through email
and the remaining were sent through teachers and graduate students. Face-to-face interviews and
FGD with NCTB, Education Board personnel, and guardians were conducted by the researcher
herself by using semi-structured interview questions. Qualitative data were analysed using coding
categories and following thematic approach, while quantitative data were analysed using basic
descriptive statistics. In the findings, quantitative data followed by qualitative data have been
presented for triangulation purposes.
Findings
The study focused on eliciting responses from a range of stakeholders about the washback effect
and impact of high-stakes assessments in Bangladesh. The analysis process attempted to under-
stand the perceptions of the respondents with regard to a number of general areas (e.g. views on
motivation, four skills, examination, exam preparation, setting and marking, private tuitions, and
suggestions), related to the examinations under discussion. The major findings are highlighted
below.
Motivation for study

Teachers were asked to state what motivated their students to study hard for the examinations.
Among a list of indicators, studying for grades was reported to be the most important reason.
Majority of the teachers (70%) stressed the importance of studying for grades. Studying for
‘future prospects’ (56%) was regarded as the second most popular reason followed by studying
for parent’s happiness (36%). Half (50%) of the students stated that the thought of making their
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Rubina Khan
parents happy motivated them to study, and an equal half (50%) stated that ‘future prospects’ drive
them to study hard. Less than half (34%) of the students reported that ‘good grades’ motivate
them to work hard. Again, substantial number (60%) of the administrative personnel stated that
students generally study for good results. One official commented: “in an education system that
focuses heavily on exam results, students often tend to study ‘English’ to get good grades in the
exams, not to be able to use the language for real life communication”. A good number (74%) of
guardians indicated that students study to pass the mandatory examinations.
Views on four skills

More than half of the students (58%) reported that they are required to practice reading (54%) and
writing (58%) in class, while a small number indicated that they practice listening (30%) and speaking
(32%) in class. A considerable number of teachers reported that they covered reading and writing
skills in class but mentioned that a very brief amount of time was spent on listening and speaking.
Regarding coverage of the four skills, teachers were asked to state whether these skills had a
positive or negative impact on the teaching and learning of English. It was found that a large
majority (98%) believed that the practice of reading and writing skills had a positive impact as it
helped to prepare students for study and jobs, and made classes more interactive.They added that
students would improve significantly if listening and speaking were practiced in class. Students
expressed similar views and (68%) thought they would improve if they had the opportunity to
practice listening and speaking skills.
A majority (94%) of the teachers from both schools and colleges believe that the current
nature of examination does not truly assess the English language skills of the students. This lack
of assessment occurs mainly because all the four skills are not assessed in the examination. In
addition, college teachers think that, since there is no scope for focusing on real-life communica-
tion, the exams cannot assess the skills of the students properly. In contrast, school teachers point
out that there is no scope for practicing listening and speaking skills, and students tend to study
only for good grades.
Views on examinations
Participants were asked to share their attitudes towards examination and consequences of exam-
ination results. Nearly half of the teachers (42%) perceived that students’ attitudes towards
examinations were positive, 26% perceived it to be negative, while 24% remained neutral on this
point. Regarding consequences of examination results, an overwhelming number of teachers
(98%) agreed that they were aware of the goals and objectives of their respective examinations
and those examinations were based on the syllabus. Similarly, a large number of students (76%)
were found to be aware of the goals and objectives of the examinations.
Majority of the students (66%) claimed that they disliked studying for examinations and (62%)
students indicated that good results were mainly for future prospects and job opportunities. Less
than half of the students (34%) claimed that they want to do well for themselves. Studying for
admission purposes was regarded as important for some (30%) and (20%) reported that they
study for the sake of their parents.
Anxiety before examinations

Regarding the feeling of anxiety before examinations, 74% students indicated that they often
feel stressed before examinations, while 26% often felt anxious. They identified poor exam
120
preparation as the main anxiety inducer, followed by pressure of a huge syllabus and lack of
time for revision. Majority of the students (74%) stated that the questions on the examination
were based on the syllabus. However, 64% stated that questions outside the syllabus increased
anxiety levels and 44% claimed that it resulted in time loss. It was observed by 40% that it
instilled a sense of failure. A large number of students (80%) perceived that the examination
results were not fair and only 12% believed it was fair. Another vital issue pointed out by
teachers, students, and guardians was the issue of the frequent leakage of question papers on
the previous night of the examination, which demotivated students and left them in a state of
confusion and despair.
Effect of examination results

Survey findings also revealed stakeholder perceptions about the effect of examination results. A
considerable number of students (74%) were of the view that good results gave them a sense of
accomplishment, 54% considered it a matter of prestige, and for 34% students, it provided a sense
of security. Alternatively, poor results caused anxiety for 66% students, a feeling of insecurity for
44%, and loss of prestige for 42% students. A small portion (18%) indicated financial loss to be
an issue.
Regarding views on the positive and negative effects of examinations, 50% of the teachers
indicated that the dominant, obvious positive effect of examinations was to evaluate student skills
and learning. An equal number (50%) of teachers pointed out that examinations also motivate
students to study increasing awareness of their strengths and weaknesses. Two college principals
considered good results to be a blessing for students as it opened up academic and career oppor-
tunities for them. However, they also believed that bad results have a profound effect on students
and parents, in particular: students lose confidence, dropout rates increase, and parents become
losers financially.
Most college teachers stated that examinations limit the overall development of communi-
cative competence of the students and increase stress, leading to frustration and negative atti-
tude towards life. A majority of school teachers also agreed with the point about exam stress
and anxiety. Like college teachers, school teachers emphasised that examinations make students
obsessed with grades and certificates; therefore, they get demotivated, depressed, and frustrated if
expectations are not met.
Most of the guardians (80%) perceive both SSC and HSC examinations to be important as
these are crucial for preparing students for higher education. They realised that “examinations
pressurize our children to work hard and also make them anxious about their future! It makes
our children depressed if they do not get expected grades”.
Views on syllabus
Regarding the syllabus, most administrators (80%) agreed that questions are set from the syllabus.
They reported that no recent initiatives have been taken for syllabus reform after 2012. They
pointed to a gap between syllabus objectives and the examination. A senior personnel of NCTB
observes that
The exams do not always reflect the curriculum objectives. While the syllabus is based
on developing learners’ communicative competence, the exams sometimes may have
focused on some other skills such as content knowledge and discrete point grammar
tests.
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Rubina Khan
Test items
Almost all teachers, students, and administrators reported that questions are set from the syllabus.
It was stated that NCTB has a clearly spelt out test format specifying the kind of test items to
be included and the marks to be allocated for each of those items. It was also pointed out by a
number of administrators (60%) that no studies on SCC/HSC exams have been conducted by
NCTB. However, the Bangladesh Examination Development Unit of Board of Intermediate
and Secondary Education (BISE) has conducted a number of empirical studies on SSC/HSC
results (see Choudhury & Holbrook, 2018). Expressing their views on the SSC/HSC results in
English, 60% administrators stated that SSC and HSC results do not reveal much about students’
English language competence levels.They added that a few of the test items reflect real-life skills,
but there are a number of test items that are unrelated to the communicative ability of learners.
Unfair assessment of examinations

A majority (70%) of administrators opined that responsibility for unfair assessment rested mainly
on test setters and markers. They reflected that it might be important to think in terms of the
learning–teaching practices that are taking place in the classrooms and ask questions like “are we
preparing our students to take the tests that they are likely to face in public exams and beyond the
exams?” Personnel connected with exam boards and NCTB were aware that testing is a com-
plex phenomenon and that exam reform is a daunting enterprise. One expert made a detailed
observation:
Our public exams are high-stakes exams, and we have to administer the SSC/HSC
exams for approximately 12–15 lakh (approximately, 1.2–1.5 million) students each
year. This is a huge number, and the government is primarily concerned with the mere
‘administration’ of the exams countrywide. When we look at the instances outside
Bangladesh, we don’t have enough examples of dealing with such huge number of
students sitting for public exams. (Even the number of students taking SSC is higher
than the total population of some countries.) So, this is a huge and unique challenge
for Bangladesh.
Finally, when asked to indicate who they perceived was responsible for unfair assessment, 30%
of the teachers pointed out that institutions were responsible and to some extent teachers (48%)
and examiners (46%) were responsible for unfair assessment. Some teachers also (30%) held
invigilators/exam staff responsible to some extent. When probed in the interviews, they revealed
that invigilators are not serious in their duties and cause distractions and disturbance in the
examination halls. Of the students, 52% held examiners responsible to a great extent for unfair
results, whereas 36% of the students blamed invigilators; they also blamed the institutions (44%)
and teachers (33%) for unfair results.
Impact of good and bad results

Referring to the impact of good and bad results on personal life and psychological state of mind
of the students, a majority of the guardians (94%) stated that bad results initially generate bad
feelings and leave a psychological scar, which stays for a long time. Less than half (40%) opined
that a child who performs poorly in examinations suffers mentally, and so do their parents.
On the other hand, some parents claimed that they “feel proud to be parents of good students
122
with high grades”. A significant number (67%) of the guardians also talked about societal and
peer pressure, feeling low when relatives or neighbours enquire about results and remarked that
society is critical about students who perform poorly or fail. In addition, it was found that (60%)
parents who are not solvent feel a lot of financial stress as students may have to retake the exam-
ination.They believe that the faulty education and exam system are mainly responsible for unfair
assessment. Moreover, they added that the basics are not taught properly at schools and colleges,
and students are under a lot of pressure due to the poor system.
Examination preparation strategies

The survey findings revealed that majority of teachers from both schools and colleges prepare
their students by using a number of strategies. Majority of teachers (80%) reported that they
prepare students by explaining difficult concepts for tests, 48% said by making students practice
model tests and previous questions, and 40% by reviewing previous lessons. More than half (68%)
of teachers reported that they condense the syllabus. A small percentage (16%) reported that
when exams are knocking at the door they stop teaching new material and give extra lessons.
When asked specifically in the interviews, how they can help their students do well in the exam-
ination, 30% claimed to do so by making students practice model tests and motivating them to
study hard.
Students engage in a number of strategies to prepare for examinations. In order of rank,
attending private tuition (60%) tops the list. Next comes solving past question papers (50%),
followed by revision of study materials (48%), and self-study (42%). Students suggested the
following ways for teachers to help them to prepare for exams: making them practice more
(32%), giving suggestions (40%), reducing syllabus (36%), and revising difficult topics (30%).
Private tuition
Teachers from schools and colleges seemed to be in favour of private tuition. A large propor-
tion of teachers (76%) believe that private tuition helps students for examination preparation.
Nearly half of the respondents (48%) reported that private tuition provides students the oppor-
tunity to practice and revise and enables them to address their individual needs by specifying
their weaknesses. However, a very insignificant number (4%) believed that it makes students
dependent.
Students indicated major reasons for attending private tuitions. First, students stated that pri-
vate tuitions motivated them to study and made lessons easier (42%); second, it assisted them to
solve critical topics (38%) and enabled them to practice more (22%); and finally, they needed
private tuition for getting suggestions (30%) and good results (32%). Students also highlighted
some additional reasons. For instance, they mentioned that they attend private tuition to learn
new things from the teachers, to follow the culture of going to tuition prevailing in the society
for good results, to get individual attention, and to complete the studies, which are not covered
in their limited class hours.
Majority of the guardians (80%) are in favour of sending their children for private tuition.They
state that English lessons are not adequately covered in schools as there is insufficient time to cover
the syllabus. Students get individual care and they need private lessons for better results. However,
one mother stated, “I send my child to the coaching centre because it is made mandatory by the
teachers of the school. If students do not go for coaching lessons teachers cut off their marks
unnecessarily and do not allow them to sit in the exam and even do not give admit/registration
cards easily”. They also added ‘monetary profit’ as another reason for making tuition mandatory.
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Rubina Khan
Conversely, a few parents (20%) claimed that they do not send their children to coaching
centres because ‘there are too many students’, and there their wards will not get ‘individual
attention’. A couple believed that ‘coaching centres are meaningless’. There is no difference
between coaching centres and the classroom. One guardian stated, ‘at coaching centres students
cannot concentrate’. A couple of guardians said, “teachers are also to be blamed for this trend as
they have become commercial and are careless and irresponsible”.
Principles of testing and marking criteria

Almost half (48%) of the school teachers believed that they were aware of the principles of val-
idity and reliability, while a vast majority of college teachers were found to be aware of these
principles. Less than half of college teachers (24%) said they were not aware of these principles
and again less than half (24%) of them stated that the majority of items are not communicative
in nature. This shows lack of awareness about the principle of authenticity. A good number of
college teachers (40%) and school teachers (36%) said they used criteria for marking. On the
other hand, 30% teachers answered in the negative and the interview findings revealed that they
were not clear about the issue at hand. Teachers (30%) indicated that they personalise the cri-
teria with focus on spelling, grammar, theme, punctuation, planning, cohesion, and handwriting,
while some teachers (24%) reported that they use the board’s marking instructions, which had
no clearly defined rubric.
Training on assessment
A number of college teachers (28%) indicated that they received training on testing and
assessment, while a good number of school teachers (40%) admitted they had no training. The
college teachers mentioned being trained on testing provided by their institutions or by doing an
MA in English Language Teaching (ELT). A few mentioned participation in continuous profes-
sional development courses.When asked about the effects of no training on their performance as
assessors, many teachers admitted not facing major problems, while some pointed to a number of
areas which affected them. For instance, 28% felt confused and indecisive; 32% expressed a lack of
experience and problems in assessing examination scripts, while 40% of school teachers said ‘they
assess from experience’. Nevertheless, both school and college teachers stressed the importance
of continuous teacher training for effective performance.
In short, we can see that the findings depict the limitations of the examination system.
Stakeholder suggestions show the need for the following: an appropriate marking criteria;
the demand for building student motivation and decreasing examination-related fear. In par-
ticular, teachers and guardians suggested changes to the examination pattern and format and
inclusion of viva voce along with objective and subjective questions. Teachers demanded
inclusion of four skills in the exam and specifying uniform and appropriate marking criteria.
Teachers, students, and guardians have also requested a shorter syllabus and stoppage of leaking
of questions papers.
Discussion and implications

Previous sections detailed the perspectives of a range of stakeholders at the SSC and HSC level
of education.The combined views sketch the complicated assessment landscape at the secondary
and higher secondary levels of education in Bangladesh. Although the views are perceptions
of the respondents, they do delineate the harmful washback effects of the assessment process
124
and describe the impact of these high-stakes tests on the test takers as well as on the other
stakeholders who are involved. The major findings of this study relate to the following:
Syllabus and examination

Both the SSC and HSC exams are professed to be communicative language tests, as a com-
municative syllabus has been in place since 1996. Apparently, there seems to be a fit on paper
between curriculum objectives and the examination, but the reality is that neither the test nor
the test items fully adhere to the principles of communicative language testing. So, there is a
lack of alignment between the syllabus objectives, content, and the test (Das et al., 2014; Hoque,
2016; Maniruzzaman & Hoque, 2010). As this study reveals, speaking and listening skills do not
receive as much attention as reading and writing skills do, and very little attention is given to
the teaching and testing of these two skills. However, it was noted that majority of the teachers
(98%) and students (67%) maintained that the coverage of speaking and listening skills would
have beneficial washback.
Teaching and learning practices

The findings show that Bangladeshi education system operates in an exam-oriented culture,
and examinations dominate teaching and learning. Classroom practices are geared to passing the
test. Teachers are in a rush to finish the syllabus but are unable to do so due to time constraints.
The syllabus specifies the teaching of listening and speaking, but unfortunately these skills are
not part of the teachers’ teaching repertoire. Teachers focus mainly on reading and writing and
that, too, with limited activities. Findings further reveal that teachers attempt to reduce the syl-
labus, and students make similar demands. Teacher-centred teaching practices are also found to
be a common phenomenon. This reiterates findings of an earlier study (Maniruzzaman, 2012)
and significant trends of high-stakes tests where the syllabus exerts control over the content,
knowledge forms, and pedagogy (Au, 2007). In addition, principles of testing do not fully adhere
to valid test construction processes. It was also observed during the FGDs that a considerable
portion of school teachers despite their lack of training claimed to be aware of the principles of
test validity and reliability, but they were not sure about how to apply these in real-life teaching.
Surprisingly, although a small portion (28%) of college teachers claimed to have received training,
a large majority of them reported to be knowledgeable about the principles of testing.Therefore,
the training programmes for school and college teachers could take these findings into consider-
ation to ensure maximum effectiveness.
Test preparation culture

The reliance on private lessons and burgeoning of coaching centres is no new finding in the con-
text of Bangladesh. There is ample evidence of this prevalent practice from the views of teachers
and students in this study as well as previous studies mentioned earlier. In this study, although a
significant portion of teachers claimed that they used different strategies to prepare their students
for examinations, a majority (76%) of them supported private tuition. Thus, the teachers’ pos-
ition on these two issues becomes self-contradictory. Besides, majority of the students (60%) and
guardians (80%) favoured the practice of private tuitions for a variety of reasons which tend to
nullify the teachers’ claims. A probable explanation of the incongruity might lie in what a very
small number of guardians believed to be the reason: the teachers’ pursuance of ‘monetary profit’
and their being ‘commercial’, ‘careless’, and ‘irresponsible’.
125
Rubina Khan
This practice may have remarkably increased first due to some harmful washback effects of
examinations. Second, the growth is perhaps due to the commercial dimension of coaching as
this is a source of supplementary income for teachers.
Washback effect
High-stakes tests affect institutions, teachers, students, and parents alike, and findings of this study
demonstrate signs of harmful washback effect of tests on students and parents and in the long
term on education and society. Students are obsessed with grades and their only objective is to
pass the test with good grades. They feel demotivated and frustrated if they perform poorly in
examinations as these have serious consequences on their life at a later stage. They lose time and
face, and there are financial penalties for low achievers as they have to repeat the test. Students
reported that they undergo tremendous psychological pressure. Parents are equally stressed and
worried about their children’s examination results. Another concern voiced by teachers, students,
and guardians is the fear of leakage of question papers prior to the examination as it leaves a
negative impact on students’ minds. This issue was earlier discussed by Sultana (2018b) in her
review of the SSC public examination.
The way forward

This study puts forth three sets of recommendations for significantly improving assessment
practices in Bangladesh. Directly correlated with the findings of this study, recommendations for
change are made in the following areas: (1) teacher training in assessment literacy, (2) collabor-
ation among partners involved in testing, and (3) examination reform.
Teacher training in assessment literacy

The first step needs to be a clear understanding of the curriculum objectives by all stakeholders.
Teaching materials, classroom methodology, setting, and marking of question papers will need
to follow valid and reliable practices. In brief, there is a significant need to develop a culture of
formative and ongoing assessment. Alternative assessment types (e.g. portfolios, self-assessment
schemes) also need to be introduced. In addition, it is imperative for teachers to be knowledge-
able about ‘assessment literacy’ and hence the need for teacher training in this particular area.
One NCTB official stated, “We have not been able to get out of the vicious cycle as teachers
are not trained and skilled. Majority of the teachers lack assessment literacy”. NCTB officials,
teachers, and guardians have also stressed the necessity of ongoing teacher training, monitoring,
and supervision.
Collaboration among partners

Personnel from the Ministry of Education, NCTB, Directorate of Secondary and Higher
Education, and BISE need to critically coordinate and collaborate to tackle the issues of
assessment that have been identified. This study highlighted three crucial areas that need imme-
diate attention by concerned authorities: the gap between syllabus objectives and test content,
the private tuition culture, and question leakage. It is apparent that no substantial steps have been
taken to narrow down the gap between the syllabus objectives and the exam formats. NCTB
officials have suggested that a “National Assessment Academy needs to be launched without fur-
ther delay to address issues related to assessment”.
126
Examination reform
Examination content and format need to be in sync with syllabus objectives. Moreover, stream-
lining of marking procedures and test administration should be ensured. There is a dire need for
planning and executing holistic examination reform. A change in social attitudes regarding the
negative concept of examinations is also the need of the hour. Teachers and examiners need to
be critically aware of their dual roles. They need to ensure that students are not solely focusing
their learning to do well in examinations only. Furthermore, from the ethical language testing
perspective, the test providers, including test designers, test administrators, the education boards,
have to assume collective responsibility for the effects of tests on the test takers and the wider
society. Test security certainly needs to be maintained and issues of question leakage need to be
dealt with an iron hand by all concerned parties. A comprehensive examination reform covering
secondary and higher secondary levels of education and with targeted short-term and long-term
goals needs to be planned.
Conclusion
This study on washback was exploratory and descriptive and, due to the size of the respondent
pool, the findings cannot be generalised. The respondents included 50 teachers, 50 students, 10
administrators, and 15 parents and guardians. Commissioned large-scale research on the effects of
high-stakes tests needs to be conducted in Bangladesh. Dissemination of the washback research
findings is imperative for triggering social reform on part of all stakeholders, leading to a positive
change in the examination system in the country.
To reiterate, the research findings, student and guardian perspectives have clearly shown the
harmful impact of these high-stakes examinations. This includes such cases as subordination of
the instruction on the syllabi in order to focus on test preparation, focusing on only those English
skills that appear on high-stakes examination, test anxiety, and the significant impact of examin-
ation results on test takers and their guardians.Teacher, student, and administrator views have also
revealed important lacunas in the assessment system. It is believed that washback research can
work as a valuable tool to convince participants to adapt new practices and incorporate positive
washback into the programme.Thus, the findings about the negative impact of exams on students
and guardians need to be shared with the concerned authorities to mitigate the detrimental
effects of testing. This includes attention being granted by those concerned authorities to the
three sets of recommendations made by this researcher as a result of the findings: (1) A recom-
mendation for teacher training in assessment literacy, (2) a recommendation for collaboration
among partners, and (3) a recommendation for examination reform.
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9
THE METHODS OF LEARNING
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
A critical evaluation of test-focused
teaching in Bangladesh
Sabrin Farooqui
Introduction
Examination plays a crucial role in the education system in Bangladesh. Students’ assessment
system is based on final year examination. Reports and decisions about promotion to the next
year level are based solely on their performance in the school examinations conducted at the
end of each year. Secondary School Certificate (SSC) is one of the two large-scale public
examinations which are taken by millions of students in Bangladesh (BANBEIS, 2019). English
is one of the nine subjects of this exam. It is compulsory for every student to take the English
test, the questions of which are mostly based on the textbook English For Today. Contemporary
empirical studies (Green, 2013; Sultana, 2018) in English Language Teaching (ELT) show that
tests exert a powerful influence on how teaching takes place in the classroom. However, the
effect of such tests on classroom teaching, which is termed ‘washback’ (Wall & Alderson, 1993),
is not the same everywhere. It operates in different ways under different situations, and many
factors work behind the influence of the test. A better understanding of how washback occurs
in teaching and learning processes can help to bring specific changes.
The aims relevant to the study reported in this chapter are centred around the two main
questions:
• To what extent is the use of the new textbook influenced by the SSC examination?
• What are the underlying factors behind the influence?
The chapter begins with an introduction to ELT in Bangladesh and a brief description of the
current curriculum. Then it explores the influences of SSC on textbook use and the impact of
inconsistencies between the language policy and assessment criteria. It also indicates how these
all impact on students’ proficiency level in English in the long term.
English language in secondary education in Bangladesh

English language use is broadly seen as offering economic advantage, and virtually all economic
rewards accrue to that use (Hossain & Tollefson, 2007). In Bangladesh, the need for English lan-
guage proficiency for obtaining successful jobs and the increasing perception of English as the
130
Evaluation of test-focused teaching
language of prestige have created a societal urge to learn and use the English language. English-
speaking skill gets particular importance in Bangladesh as Farooqui (2007) states: “The global-
isation of English and a growing demand for good English-speaking skills in the job market in
particular have been placing a greater emphasis on the teaching of English-speaking skills in
Bangladesh” (p. 94). Considering the importance of teaching English, the government along
with the non-government organisations and other educational organisations in Bangladesh has
been putting efforts since the 1990s to ensure the quality of English teaching at all three levels
of education, that is, primary, secondary, and higher secondary levels and increase students’ level
of English language proficiency (Chowdhury & Farooqui, 2012; Haider & Chowdhury, 2012;
Hamid & Honan, 2012).
English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) was one of the major reform
projects in ELT. It was a UK–Bangladesh jointly funded project that ran from 1997 to 2008. It
introduced the communicative approach in the national English curriculum for the first time
and aimed to improve the communicative competence among learners of secondary and higher
secondary education levels (National Curriculum & Textbook Board, 2001). The new curric-
ulum stressed the need for students to learn to communicate in English rather than to just master
the structure of the language (Farooqui, 2008). The inclusion of communicative activities in the
new textbook promoted the change from a teacher-centred to a student-centred approach. It
focuses on teaching all four skills of language. As indicated in the preface of the latest edition of
English For Today:
The curriculum makes it explicit that language learning will be graded and contents
will reflect real life situations as the ultimate purpose of language learning is to
communicate. The English For Today textbooks have been developed to help students
attain competency in all four language skills, i.e. listening, speaking, reading and
writing.
(National Curriculum & Textbook Board, 2017, p. 1)
ELTIP also aimed to re-vitalise the examination system. The examinations are supposed to test
candidates’ ability to use English for communicative purposes rather than to test their formal
knowledge of language structure. ELTIP also targeted to train the teachers of English to teach in
the communicative method, so that they can use the newly written textbook to develop learners’
competence in all four skills of the English.
English in Action (EIA) project was introduced after ELTIP to improve ELT in Bangladesh
and it was also funded by the UK Department for International Development (English in Action,
2010). EIA was a follow-up scheme to ELTIP with the target to boost economic development in
Bangladesh by improving ELT (Seargeant & Erling, 2011). Teaching Quality Improvement was
also a significant Secondary Education Project in Bangladesh that aimed to improve the quality
of teaching in secondary education by developing teacher competencies, training programmes,
and setting the standards for training providers.
Secondary Education Sector Development Plan (SE-SDP) was another significant project,
which was developed in 1998 with the Technical Assistance of Asian Development Bank to
develop the secondary education sector as a whole. Secondary Education Sector Improvement
Project (SESIP) implemented (1999–2007) as the first slice of SE-SDP and Secondary Education
Sector Development Project (2007–13) was taken as a follow-up. This project aimed to increase
access to secondary education and reduce school drop-out. The programme is part of a larger
effort to improve education service delivery.
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Sabrin Farooqui
Table 9.1 Layout of question papers
English first paper English second paper
Part A Part B Part A Part B
Activities Reading Writing Grammar Writing

Marks 50 50 60 40
English language assessment: SSC

Students sit for the most important school-leaving public examination – SSC at the end
of Year 10. It is the main assessment system in secondary level of the mainstream educa-
tion system in Bangladesh and is organised by eight Boards of Intermediate and Secondary
Examination in different regions of the country. SSC is a high-stake public test in Bangladesh
like any other summative assessment. A high-stake test is defined as a test which is believed
to bring about important consequences to test takers and other associated people (Luxia,
2007). SSC results are widely published in the media and the results obtained from this test
have serious consequences for the students because many important decisions are made on
the basis of the result. For example, this result determines whether students are even able to
continue to the higher secondary level. In many colleges, admission takes place on the basis
of this result and it is also important for the students when they apply for jobs at a later stage
of life.
In the SSC examination, the English test questions are divided into first paper and second
paper. Each carries 100 marks. It tests students’ reading and writing skills, and knowledge of
grammar and vocabulary as shown in Table 9.1.
Although the questions for these tests usually are different for each board, the tests are
conducted and the formats are the same. The questions in the English First paper are based on
the textbook English For Today. The focus of the next section is on the influence of this examin-
ation on the use of teaching material in English language classrooms.
Role of assessment in teaching and learning

Assessment plays a central role in teaching and learning (Begum & Farooqui, 2008). In many
countries, where teaching has become more communicative, testing remains the same within
the traditional pattern consisting of discrete items, lower order thinking, and a focus on form
rather than meaning (Brown, 2004). Classroom teaching does not always change according
to curricular modifications and alterations (Su, 2006). In a communicatively oriented and
effective teaching programme, the tests given to assess performance tend to emphasise the
learners’ knowledge of separate grammatical points because these are the kinds of tests and test
items that exist (Eckes et al., 2005). If students are given such tests, they will want to be taught
in a way that ensures them a ‘pass’, which defeats both the teachers’ and the students’ purpose
of enabling the students to actually express themselves in everyday communicative events.
As a result, the teaching practice directed to ignoring or narrowing down the essential needs
of students gives rise to negative washback (Djurić, 2008). In Bangladesh, the SSC exam-
ination might have a similar impact on the use of the textbook, which is the only teaching
material used in language classrooms and is considered as a core element that defines the actual
curriculum.
132
Washback effect: Narrowing the curriculum

The proponent of the term ‘washback’, Wall and Alderson (1993) studied the impact of tests
on how teachers choose their teaching content from the textbook in a study conducted in Sri
Lanka. Although a textbook, based on the communicative approach, was published as part of the
curriculum innovation in Sri Lanka, teachers still placed importance on the public exams, which
led the teachers to teaching to the test, rather than the stated objectives of the textbook. As Wall
and Alderson (1993) argue,
For teachers, the fear of poor results and the associated guilt, shame or embarrassment
might lead to the desire for the pupil to achieve high scores in whatever way seems
possible. This might lead to “teach to the test” with an undesirable narrowing of the
curriculum (p. 118).
This study also showed that some teachers did practise all the activities of the textbook with
students as the exam was meant to test any of the contents in the textbook. However, even in
such cases, listening lessons were consistently skipped over since this skill was not tested. The
findings of the research showed that teachers may not use the material in the way the designers
of the book expect them to. They teach in a way that helps students to get a good score. The
result of this study is reflected in a study conducted by Chen (2003), who studied English lan-
guage teachers’ planning with the use of a textbook in classrooms in Taiwan and found that
classroom instruction was examination oriented and teachers did not teach following the com-
municative approach on which the new curriculum was based. Chen also found that under the
pressure of entrance examinations, teachers were more concerned with coverage of the curric-
ulum content that would be tested. In a similar context, Luxia (2005) affirms that “This drive to
gain higher scores makes teachers choose teaching to the test as the ultimate goal … the score
is everything” (p. 164).
In a more recent study, Azadi and Gholami (2013) identify the possible washback effect
of English language tests on ELT in high schools of Iran and further describe the nature of
the washback effect in that context. This study shows an overall negative washback effect of
the English language tests on teaching materials. “The negative washback, either due to the
narrowing down any aspect of the curriculum by the teacher or lacking facilities, results in the
students’ low level of linguistic competence, let alone communicative competence” (p. 1340).
In a review of the progress made in washback studies over the quarter century, Green (2013)
states: “Washback is usually evaluated as taking a beneficial or damaging direction to the extent
that it encourages or discourages forms of teaching or learning intended by the test developers
or considered to be appropriate on other grounds” (p. 40). The greater the differences between
test taking processes and real-world language use, the greater the risk of damaging washback.
Exam slaving: Use of parallel exam material

Empirical studies reveal that examination enhances the use of parallel exam materials in many
places (Spratt, 2005). Teachers emphasise on making students familiar with exam technique
because they want students to practise the question, which reflects the technique of exam.
Alderson and Wall (1993) show that teachers use examination-related publications more as the
examination gets closer. Teachers want them to get a good result by practising those papers
repeatedly. A study conducted by Andrews, Fullilove, and Wong (2002) also shows how change
in the public exam affects the content of the teaching in Hong Kong. Teachers spend two-thirds
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of the class time using the published exam-related papers to prepare students for exams in the
classroom. Spratt (2005, p. 11) calls these teachers ‘exam slaves’ since they practise over the past
papers to prepare students for exams.
Factors influencing the impact of exams

The degree of impact of the exam varies for a number of reasons. In order to know how
washback emerges, Manjarres (2005) mentions that a number of variables in society, educa-
tion, and schools should be considered. These include variables relevant to the participants of
the case such as teachers, students, material developers, and publishers; variables relevant to the
process of learning such as actions by participants towards learning; and variables relevant to
the products such as what is learnt and the quality of learning (Hughes, 2003, as cited in Bailey,
1996; Manjarres, 2005). The importance of a test influences how greatly it will affect teaching
practices. High-stake tests affect the teaching by narrowing curriculum (Crocker, 2005; Spratt,
2005). High-stake tests are those tests which are seen by students, teachers, and administrators as
an important decision maker. A person is expected to score high in such exams and is judged in
the society by the result. Popham (2001) argues that it is very common to see that teachers do not
pay attention towards any subject that is not included in the high-stake test. He says:
If people find themselves in a context where the rewards come from X and there are no
rewards for Y, which do you think will typically be promoted? Teachers are no more or
less susceptible to such reward/punishment structures than anyone else.
(Popham, 2001, p. 19)
In China, where the English test is a high-stake test, Luxia (2007) shows that teachers and
students focus on the items important for exam: “Teachers and students focused only on the
aspects of writing that they believed would help to achieve higher test scores, while completely
ignoring the need to be able to write communicatively in real life situations” (p. 65). Regarding
the effect of a high-stake test, Crocker (2005) similarly argues:
With high-stakes assessments, teachers will be shackled to teaching content that is

easily tested in restricted formats and forced to subvert their professional judgment and
restrict their efforts to covering only that content likely to appear on high-stakes tests
at the expense of more comprehensive student learning.
(Crocker, 2005, p. 165)
Luxia (2005) notes that since high-stake tests cause important consequences, these can in turn
shape the teaching and learning situation. For this, it is important in many countries that policy
makers bring corresponding changes to high-stake tests.
The extent of the effect of tests on teaching sometimes depends on the amount of pressure
administrators place on teachers for a better score for the students. Principals put pressure
on teachers to do well in examinations to gain a good reputation for the school because, as
Chapman and Snyder (2000) mention, schools and teachers are sometimes evaluated on the
basis of students’ scores in the exam. Teachers can even withhold new instructional and teaching
practices for fear of disadvantaging the students on the examination (p. 460).
Washback studies have revealed significant inconsistency in whether and how teachers, learners,
and others change their behaviour to address test demands.They suggest that reasons working for
washback are very complex and its impact would appear to be highly variable and dependent on
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context (Bailey, 1996; Green, 2007; Hughes, 2003). It is important to understand the role of the
test in its social context or contexts, which may include the setting of the test, its use, teachers’
and learners’ beliefs about teaching and learning, and their knowledge of the test (Green, 2013).
In general, various features have to be regarded to deepen the understanding of washback,
such as the school environment, messages from administration, expectations of teachers, students,
needs, and objectives of learners and educational systems, the status of the subject-matter tested,
the nature of the test, and the use to which the test scores are put, designers of tests and teachers,
lack of well-trained teachers, and the overload of teachers, motivation, and the published materials
(Andrews et al., 2002; Saif, 2000; Shohamy, Donitsa-Schmidt, & Ferman, 1996). Teachers may
decide to focus only on the skills needed for the test, giving practice in test-like activities to the
exclusion of anything that is not tested in the final exam (Green, 2013). The discussion above
on washback shows that the washback effect is particularly strong when it is a high-stake test but
various features have to be regarded to deepen the understanding of washback. Little research
has been carried out in Bangladesh to find out the impact of SSC which is a high-stake test on
teachers’ classroom teaching.
Methodology
This is a case study where the primary unit of analysis is the individual English language teacher.
In order to provide a wider range of perspectives of teachers teaching in different contexts,
12 teachers from four schools situated in urban and rural areas of Bangladesh were randomly
selected as participants of this study. There were seven men and five women, aged between 34
and 58, and their teaching experience ranged from two to six years. Thus, the sample represents
teachers from diverse backgrounds (a profile of the participants has been provided in Appendix A).
Participants have been given pseudonyms in this chapter in order to maintain their anonymity.
These names are used when their views are noted in the following.
Data were collected through interviews with teachers, observation of classroom lessons, and
an examination of documents. The interviews followed a semi-structured format with a fairly
clear focus, which helped to address later more specific issues. Each question was followed
by probes designed to obtain more detailed responses. Each teacher was interviewed twice,
once before the observations of classroom teaching and once after that (see Appendices B and
C). The first interview was conducted to gain an understanding of the teachers’ experience,
teaching qualifications, teaching context, understanding of the textbook, and attitude to the
new curriculum. Non-participant observation of classroom teaching followed the first inter-
view. The purpose of the classroom observation was to understand how the teachers are using
the teaching material. Description of each activity was recorded on the observation sheet
(see Appendix D). The questions of the second interview focused on the factors that shaped
the actual lesson. The teachers were also asked if they feel the SSC exam is influencing their
teaching. The interviews were conducted in ‘Bangla’ and were transcribed and later translated.
Interview transcripts were sent to the informants for verification and feedback to increase the
credibility of the research.
Course outlines, questions of examinations, teaching materials, school handbooks, and other
curriculum materials were also collected. The course outlines gave an account of the contents
of the textbook that is focused on classroom teaching, while the question papers gave an outline
of what were focused in the examinations conducted in those schools. Green (2013) emphasises
the importance of analysis of documents such as textbooks, teacher devised materials, assessment
records, and student portfolios, which can provide further evidence of teaching and learning
practices. Thus, in this study, the documents provided an insight into the current priorities of the
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schools and helped to understand the context of the school in a better way. These triangulation
techniques in data collection methods enhanced the credibility of the research.
The study is locally based and context specific. Consequently, the result cannot be expected to
be generalised to all secondary English teachers. Further research is recommended taking more
participants from various areas, which might give a broader picture of the influence of the SSC
on classroom teaching in Bangladesh. Longitudinal research is likely to be useful in improving
our understanding of washback and is crucial where innovation and educational change are
involved.
Findings
Recurrent themes and salient comments regarding the washback effect were identified and
subsumed under two main categories, that is, washback effect on classroom teaching and factors
causing washback.
Washback effect on classroom teaching

Curriculum reductionism: The study shows that curriculum reductionism is the most imme-
diate effect of the SSC examination on classroom teaching in Bangladesh. The data show that
the test influences what teachers select from the textbook to teach. Interview data reveal that
teachers tend to ignore activities, which do not contribute directly to passing the exam. At the
beginning of every lesson of the book, there are listening activities and picture description task,
which are supposed to be done in pairs or groups. The observation notes show that except for
three teachers, none of the teachers did these activities in the class. In one of the observed class
sessions, Sajjad was teaching Lesson 7 (see Appendix E). He skipped the listening activity and
also the group discussion work. He did not follow the guidelines provided in the teachers’ guide.
When the teacher was asked in the post-lesson interview why he avoided doing those, he said,
“I skipped over these activities because those are not important for the year final exam or SSC
exam” (Sajjad). (An example of an SSC question paper has been provided in Appendix F). Field
notes from other classroom observations show similar situation.
The question pattern of the SSC examination causes teachers to neglect performing the
speaking and listening activities in the class since these are not important for the exam. Although
in almost every chapter, there are activities on all the four skills of language, that is, reading,
writing, speaking, and listening, the data show that only reading and writing skills are practised
in the classes, the other two skills are mostly ignored. The field notes taken during classroom
observation show that out of 12 classes observed, speaking skill was practised in only three classes.
Activity involving listening skill was not seen in any of the classes. Teachers believe that since
only reading and writing are tested in the SSC, they do not find any reason for practicing the
other two skills.
If listening and speaking were tested in SSC, these two skills would have been taught in
schools. If at least a small mark was allocated for these two skills, teachers would have
felt encouraged to teach these two skills and students would have felt interested to learn
these two skills. (Sifat)
Dialogue practices were not dealt with in the observed classes. Writings were assigned as home-
work in many classes. The classroom observations also showed that development of grammat-
ical competence received more importance than any other skill. Many activities were directed
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towards the development of grammatical competence, such as gap-filling exercises, sentence

construction, and translation of discrete items.
The analysis of the curriculum material, that is, course outlines and question papers, also
shows that only reading and writing skills are practised in the class and are tested in the final year
examinations of the schools. None of the schools tests the other two skills. As an effect of tests,
teachers prepare students by teaching certain topics or by doing activities, which are important
for the examinations.
Practising guidebook: Along with curricular reductionism goes teachers’ continuous prac-
tice of exercises from commercially available test preparation materials. Data show that it is a
common practice in Bangladeshi schools that both students and teachers rely heavily on locally
produced bi-lingual guide books and notebooks with readymade answers and explanations of
grammatical structures. Teachers practice the items from the SSC question papers of previous
years or they take items that are slightly different from the tests’ actual items. It was found from
the classroom observations that teachers prefer relying on the model questions right after the
SSC preparatory test to the time when they sit for the SSC.These are used in order to get a good
preparation for the examination. Ripon, a teacher with 18 years of teaching experience says that
“We make them prepared for the SSC exam. We teach them answers that are important for the
exam so that they can pass the exam” (Ripon).
Classroom observation shows that in many schools in urban areas, students practice notebooks
along with English For Today, but in most classes in rural areas, students were observed using only
commercially available notebooks and test papers that include questions of SSC of previous years.
The teachers said that the reason for such phenomenon was the students of rural areas cannot
afford to buy the textbook and guidebook. They only buy the material that is ‘important’ for the
test. In most of the schools in these areas, there is no strict rule for using the textbook in class.Thus,
exam-related published materials play a large role in these language classrooms in Bangladesh.
Increasing focus on private tuition: In order to get a good mark in the SSC, students go to
coaching centres or to English teachers for private tuition after school hours. Almost all the
teachers said that they teach students after school hours. There, students practise the SSC-related
materials and carry out activities important for examination. All teachers agree that the obsession
of getting a high score in the examination has made private tuition of English a massive enter-
prise in Bangladesh these days.
Factors causing washback

Societal expectations: Teachers mention that it is their responsibility to prepare their students
well for the examination. In Bangladesh, everyone cares about the results of the students. Parents
and students expect teachers to complete the textbook and work on activities important for
them – all these expectations influence teachers’ ways of teaching.
Result is an issue of prestige for institution, guardians, students and for everybody. Since
it carries prestige for everyone, we always put focus on getting a good outcome for the
results. That is why, speaking and listening activities seem less important to me. Not
only to me, it has also looked less important to the students. (Dola)
The importance of the SSC results influences the attitude of the school authority. One teacher
mentions: “The Principal is not bothered about the teaching of every detail of the textbook. He is
more interested in the students’ high-scores in the SSC examination. Everyone is concerned about
the result, not the learning of the students” (Sajjad). He also adds, “It does not matter what the
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students are learning. If they get poor marks, I have to explain the reason to the authority.This year,
the pass rate is 100%. For this, we have earned very good reputation inside and outside the school”
(Sajjad). Thus, the expectation of everyone in the society affects teacher’s use of the textbook.
Importance of the SSC examination in students’ lives: The SSC is the most important public
examination in Bangladesh.The result is perceived to be a reflection of a student’s merit. It affects
graduation from school and entrance to college where they will receive higher secondary educa-
tion. A good result helps a student to get admission to famous colleges. To achieve better scores
on the test, students work hard by practising the activities important for the SSC. Teachers reveal
that students’ focus on getting good results makes them reluctant to practise activities, which
are not important for the examination. A teacher of a school in an urban area mentions: “We
learned how to do pair work activities in the teacher training program, we know the importance
of doing warm-up activities but we have to skip those because the students are not interested
to do these activities since these are not important for the SSC examination” (Faisal). Thus, the
importance of SSC exam affects students’ attitude towards learning and hence it affects teachers’
use of the textbook content.
Discussion
Improving assessment methods in order to improve teaching–learning method is a major step.
The new curriculum has brought some changes in examination system, but it does not reflect
the textbook content or the aim of the ELT innovation in Bangladesh. There is no concord-
ance between the examination and the syllabus since the SSC examination focuses on assessing
students’ ability to memorise what they have been taught. The absence of activities on listening
and speaking skills made them and students avoid learning these two skills in the class as researchers
(Azadi & Gholami, 2013; Chen, 2003) argued that teachers and learners alike will be reluctant to
embrace any curriculum change that is not reflected in the targets set by the major examination
boards. This is why, although the new textbook has been in operation since 2002, the classroom
teaching practice shows extreme form of negative washback by focusing on just two skills, that
is, writing and reading. Classes were dominated by “test-fostered series of drills” (Popham, 2001,
p. 21). Any activity that goes beyond the materials tested in SSC, such as listening, writing, and
speaking, is seen as a waste of time. Unless the exam reflects and includes an assessment of the
speaking and listening activities important for SSC exam, teachers will be constantly under
pressure from principals, parents, and students to do activities important for the examination.
This curriculum innovation will not be taken seriously unless the content of SSC exam reflects
the nature of the textbook. Proper assessment is needed along with an effective syllabus. There
should be a change in the policies that allow such misguided assessment programme to flourish.
If testing of listening and speaking are included in public examination, it would be easier for the
teachers to motivate the learners to practise these two skills in class.
Where are we heading?

Literature shows that although the level of educational standard is generally low in Bangladesh,
the standard of English language teaching and learning has declined alarmingly in recent years
(Hamid, 2011; Islam, 2015). Most of the researchers (Haider, 2008; Khan, 2010; Rahman, 2007)
claim that the general strength of the SSC English examination is that students can achieve
higher levels of grade and students can pass the public examination easily. This is reflected in the
passing rate of previous years, 80.35% in 2017 and 77.77% in 2018 (BANBEIS, 2019). However,
this brings the issue of inflated test scores (Shepard, 1990), in which the students are getting
138
higher scores without the actual ability to produce the language. Even though there is a higher
passing rate, scholars (Hamid, 2011) have pointed out the decreasing standard of English language
teaching and learning in the recent years. Even if Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)-
based English education is being in operation in the country for nearly two decades, Hamid
(2011) pointed out a recent frightening decrease of the standard of the teaching of English.
Students’ proficiency level in English has continued to get worse where the number of students
securing golden grade point average (GPA), the ultimate criterion of being an excellent student,
in the SSC exams kept increasing. Such results, in many cases, do not reflect the level of profi-
ciency in English. A news-making proof of this can be seen in the admission tests conducted by
the University of Dhaka, the oldest and most reputed public university in Bangladesh. In 2016,
only three students managed to qualify to study in the Department of English. Rahman and
Pandian (2018) argue that “The fundamental problem in Bangladesh, like many other developing
countries, lies in its misplaced faith in imported Western methodology as a means of improving its
ELT curriculum. Curricular reform should be localised and based on social and classroom needs”
(p. 48). According to Green (2013), “If teaching to the test is educationally problematic, but
successful at improving scores, this would call the test’s validity into question and would suggest
to the developers and users that the test may need reform” (p. 49). Sultana (2018) also argues
that the way the examination is set, it is only helpful in getting the high score, but ineffective in
measuring the communicative purpose of the ELT or students’ English proficiency in general.
Conclusion
In Bangladesh, realising the importance of English in social, cultural, and commercial contexts,
various initiatives have been taken in order to equip learners with the ability to communicate
effectively. However, the study shows that there is a disjunction between the curriculum rhetoric
and pedagogical reality. The new textbook has not been able to change teaching in the class-
room, mainly because of the present examination format. Proper assessment is needed along with
an effective syllabus to ensure a quality education. It is important for the government and the
educational policy makers to understand how the test is influencing classroom teaching in order
to turn the students to active communicators instead of being mere receivers. Rigorous aca-
demic research should be carried out on the various aspects of the SSC English examination to
suggest how this examination could be improved. The government of Bangladesh should amend
its educational policy to improve the national assessment method to bring positive change in the
educational scenario of the country.
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Appendices
Appendix A: Profile of participants
Name* Age Gender Teaching experience Area of school Academic degrees Training degrees**
Sajjad 58 M 35 Rural BA MEd

Rajib 34 M 9 Rural BA BEd
Babu 52 M 21 Rural BA BEd, ELT
Reza 51 M 20 Rural BA BEd
Dola 38 F 11 Urban BA, MA BEd
Zerin 52 F 27 Urban BA, MA ELT
Tamanna 40 F 10 Rural BA BEd, ELTIP
Rumana 58 F 14 Rural BA BEd
Sifat 47 F 20 Rural BA BEd, CEC
Ripon 43 M 18 Rural MA ELTIP, ELT
Faisal 40 M 10 Urban MA BEd, SBA
Rakib 45 M 15 Urban MA BEd, BELT, ELTIP
Note: *Pseudonyms are used throughout the chapter.

** CEC = Communicative English Course, SBA = School-Based Assessment.
BEd (Bachelor in Education) and MEd (Master in Education) are one-year training programmes in Bangladesh and
are considered as more of a ‘training degree’ rather than an ‘academic degree’.
Appendix B: First-round interview prompts

New English curriculum
1. Do you find it comfortable to teach the English language using the new textbook?
2. Do you follow the lesson plan given in the textbook?
3. What are the problems in using the textbook as it has been suggested?
4. How often do you use teachers’ guide?
5. How useful is it?
6. What is your perception of the teachers’ guide?
7. Do you prefer to use commercial guidebook in class? If yes, why?
Appendix C: Second-round interview prompts

Classroom activities
1. Why did you employ the instructional activities to carry out the lessons?
2. What do you see as the most important things you would like your students to learn in
English class?
3. Why do you think like that?
4. How useful was the training for English teachers?
5. Do you apply what you learnt in teacher training?
6. Are there any problems implementing training ideas in your class?
7. What measures should be taken to overcome the impediments you have mentioned?
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Appendix D: Classroom observation instrument

Name of the institution :
Teacher’s name :
Number of students in class :
Date: Time:
Observational criteria Condition of use Remarks (If any)
Yes No
Warm-up session
Go to the topic directly
Medium of instruction
• Fully in English
• English–Bangla mixed
• Fully in Bangla
Teaching method
• Lecture
• Discussion
• Drill and question–answer
• Pair work, group work, and role play
• Grammar practice
Skill exercised
• Reading
• Writing
• Speaking
• Listening
Students’ involvement
Use of teaching material
Textbook English For Today (Unit and Lesson)
Guidebook
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Appendix E: Sample of a lesson from the English for Today

textbook, Classes IX–X
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Appendix F: Sample of SSC question paper, Dhaka Board, 2014

Dhaka Board-2014
ENGLISH (COMPULSORY)
PAPER FIRST
[According to the Syllabus of 2015]
Time-3 hours Full marks-100
[N.B.-The Figures in the margin indicate full marks]
Read the passage.Then answer the questions below:-
The National memorial at Savar is a symbol of nation’s respect for the martyrs of the War of
Liberation. It is built with concrete but made of blood. It stands 150 feet tall but every martyr it
stands for stands so much taller. It is an achievement the dimension of which can be measured,
but it stands for an achievement, which is immeasurable. It stands upright for the millions of
martyrs who laid down their lives so that we may stand upright, in honour and dignity, amongst
the nations of the world.
Most prominently visible is the 150 feet tower that stands on a base measuring 130 feet wide.
There is actually a series of seven towers that rise by stages to a height of 150 feet. The founda-
tion was laid on the first anniversary of the Victory Day. There is actually a plan to build a huge
complex in several phases. The entire complex will cover an area of 126 acres. The plan of this
complex includes a mosque, a library, and a museum. The relics of the Liberation War will be
kept in the museum. They will ever remind our countrymen and all who would come to visit
the museum of the valiant struggle and the supreme sacrifices of a freedom loving people. Here
also will be a clear warning to all oppressors that the weapons of freedom need not be very big,
and that oppression will always be defeated.The will of people prevails, for man is born to be free.
The most moving sight of the complex is the several graves of the martyred freedom fighters:
close to the tower. Standing in front of the graves we bow down our heads in respect, as the
towers soar up symbolising the loftiness of the spirit.
1. Choose the correct answer from the alternatives. 1×7=7
a. The National Memorial stands ----.

(i) horizontally (ii) flat (iii) plain (iv) vertically
b. Spiritually the National Memorial is made of ---- .
(i) concrete (ii) blood (iii) ceramic tiles (iv) iron sheet
c. The National Memorial at Savar is a symbol of nation’s tribute to the -
(i) freedom loving people (ii) martyrs of language movement.
(iii) martyrs of the Liberation War (iv) freedom fighters.
d. It is --- to the oppressors.
(i) symbol (ii) spirit (iii) inspiration (iv) threat
e. The foundation of the National Memorial was laid in ----.
(i) 1971 (ii) 1972 (iii) 1973 (iv) 1974
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f. What is the main theme of the passage?

(i) People’s respect to the martyrs (ii) People’s visit to the National Memorial
(iii) The National Memorial (iv) The graves of martyred soldiers.
g. “The most moving sight of the complex is the several graves of the martyred freedom
fighters”. What does it mean?
(i) The sight is very attractive (ii) the sight is very charming
(iii) The sight is very undesirable (iv) The sight is very touching
2. Answer the following questions. 2×5=10
a. What does the national Memorial at Savar symbolise?

b. Why will the relics of the Liberation War be preserved in the museum?
c. What do you mean by “Man is born to be free”?
d. Why is the museum built near the monument?
e. What is the most touching scene of the memorial complex?
3. Write a summary of the passage in no more than 90 to 100 words. 10
4. Read the passage on Albert Einstein. Complete the table below with information from the
passage.
Albert Einstein, the greatest scientist of the twentieth century and one of the supreme
intellects of all time, was born in 14 March 1879 in the city of Ulm in Germany. He
attended high school in Switzerland and became a Swiss citizen in 1901.
He was appointed an examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in 1902. He served at this
post for three years. He received his Ph. D in 1905 from the University of Zurich, but was
unable to find any academic position at that time. However, the same year he began to
publish original papers on the theoretical aspects of the problems of Physics. Within a few
years, these papers, particularly the one of relativity, established his reputation as one of the
most brilliant and original scientists in the world. His theories were highly controversial.
In spite of this, he was appointed Professor at the University of Berlin, at the same time
becoming a member of the Prussian academy of science. In 1921, he was awarded Nobel
prize for Physics.
Einstein’s situation in Germany became precious when Hitler rose to power. He moved
to Princeton, New Jersey, USA, in 1933 to work at the institute of advanced study and in
1940, he became a United States citizen.
Einstein’s first marriage ended in divorce, but his second was quite happy. He had two
children, both boys. He died in 1955 in Princeton. 1×5 =5
Who/What Event Place/Time/Creation/Award/Others
Albert Einstein was born (i) ......

(ii) ..... attended high school in Switzerland in 1901
He was appointed a Patent Officer (iii) .......
(iv) ..... received Ph. D in 1905 from the University of Zurich
He was awarded Nobel Prize for Physics (v) .........
144
5. From your reading of the above passage fill in the blanks with suitable words. Use one word
only in each blank. 1×5=5
Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists of the world. He got the opportunity to
(a) ---- a successful career.Though he was born in Germany, he went to Switzerland and the
USA for his (b) ---- study and work.Thus, he could enjoy the (c) ---- of being the citizen of
several countries. He is mainly renowned for his theory of relativity. Thus, scientific theory
helped him to (d) ---- Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921.Today, the world is greatly (e) ---- to
him for his scientific research.
6. Match the parts of the sentences given in Column ‘A’ and Column ‘B’ to write five complete
sentences.There are more parts of sentences in Column ‘B’ than required. 1×5=5
Column A Column B
(a) 21st February is (i) many people going to the Shaheed Minar
(b) Everyone goes (ii) flower at the root of the Shaheed Minar
(c) Shaheed Minar is (iii) covered with flowers
(d) The national flag is (iv) to observe the day at the Shaheed Minar
(e) We offer (v) kept half-mast
(vi) carrying the wreath of flowers
(vii) declared the International Mother Language day
7. Put the following parts of the story in correct order to rewrite the whole story. 8
a. She asked Bayazid to give her a glass of water.

b. Once Hazrat Bayazid Bustami came home to see his ailing mother.
c. But she again fell asleep.
d. So, he went to the well quite far from their house.
e. She woke up some hours later.
f. He filled the pitcher, came back, and went to his mother with a glass of water.
g. As he was still standing by her bed, his mother drank the glass of water and blessed him from
the core of heart.
h. He, instead of waking her up, stood by her bed with the glass of water in his hand.
8. Answer the following questions to write a paragraph on ‘A Book Fair’ you have visited
recently. 10
a. What is a book fair?

b. What was the occasion of the fair?
c. Where was it held?
d. How was the environment of the fair?
e. What experience did you gather by visiting the fair?
9. Read the beginning of the story.Write ten new sentences to complete the story. 10
Once there was a clever fox in a jungle. One day, when the fox was walking through the
jungle, he fell into a trap. He could somehow get out of the trap, but he had to leave …………. .
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10. The graph below shows ‘The Internet Users’ from 2000 to 2009. Describe the graph in 150
words.You should highlight and summarise the information given in the graph. 10
Graph:The internet Users (in lakh)

Column Graph
[the graph is excluded in the sample]
11. Imagine, you are Kaspia/Kaspian of 12, Mirpur Road, Dhaka. One of your friends is very
weak in English. Now, write a letter to your friend Rosmin/Rosmina who lives at Patiya
Chittagong, telling him about how to improve English. 10
12. You are Rakib.You met your friend Rijol. Nowadays, he feels tired and looks weak.You advise
him to walk in the morning regularly. Now, make a dialogue between you and Rijol about
‘The good effects of morning walk’. 10
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10
AN IMPACT ANALYSIS OF
QUESTIONS WITHIN
AN EXTERNAL EXAMINATION
ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Reflecting on validity and reliability
Md. Zulfeqar Haider, Robiul Kabir Chowdhury
and Jack B. Holbrook
Introduction
The last two decades have seen significant conceptual, methodological, and practical innovations
in the realm of language learning and teaching in Bangladesh following the introduction of the
Communicative Language Teaching approach in the national school curriculum. The first ever
Bangladesh Education Policy (2010) underscored the need for developing a workforce that can
access and compete at the local as well as global job markets and put emphasis on the teaching
and learning of Science, Mathematics, and English in order to achieve the vision of a ‘Digital’
Bangladesh by 2021 when the nation will be celebrating its 50 years of independence (Erling,
Seargeant, Solly, Chowdhury, & Rahman, 2012). Reflecting the spirits of the National Education
Policy 2010, the English language curriculum stressed the need for developing the commu-
nicative competence in English among the secondary school learners. However, the gradual
deterioration of Bangladeshi learners’ level of English has sparked a vigorous debate in aca-
demia regarding the quality of state-sponsored English language policy, programme, and practices
including the assessment system (Hamid, 2010; Hamid, Sussex, & Khan, 2009). In fact, the state
of English language instruction in the Bangladeshi mainstream school system is severely plagued
by the external high-stake examination system, which excludes the two important oral–aural
skills (speaking and listening) and is based on only reading and writing skills. A test format that
has experienced an erratic amputation of the two important skills gives rise to questions about
its quality to assess students’ communicative abilities, particularly in terms of its validity and reli-
ability. While one major concern remains the total exclusion of the speaking and listening skills
from the current SSC test format, there are also questions about the way the reading and writing
skills are tested (Haider, 2008; Khan, 2010).
The debates on the quality of the existing language testing policy and format have been fuelled
by the findings of some research studies that have revealed serious ‘backwash’ effects of current
testing practices on teaching–learning activities and pointed out a strong presence of ‘teaching to
the test’ in Bangladeshi English language classrooms (Hamid, 2011; Islam, 2015; Karim, 2004;
149
Rahman, 2015; Selim & Mahboob, 2001). What has added to the already dismal state of the
English language education of the country is the inadequacy of assessment knowledge, which
may ‘cripple the quality of education’ (Popham, 2009, p. 43). It is argued that while teachers
with assessment training and skills use tests to improve teaching and learning, teachers without
assessment training use tests to obtain grades (López & Bernal, 2009). Thus, the issues of English
language test development and validation and delivery of test items have become a huge concern
for the overall English language teaching policy makers and practitioners of the country.
In Bangladesh, English is taught as a compulsory subject for students in the primary and sec-
ondary schools (Grades 1–12). After the completion of Grade 10, students sit for an external
examination named Secondary School Certificate (SSC) under eight different Boards of
Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE). Along with other subjects, the SSC candidates
need to sit for two English papers (Paper I and Paper II), which cover different aspects of English
language reading and writing skills. As prescribed by the English curriculum of the National
Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB, 2012), after ten years of schooling, learners are
expected to use English in their real-life situations by acquiring the necessary knowledge and
skills, learning about cultures and values, pursuing higher education, and finding better jobs
nationally and globally. However, there is a scarcity of research in Bangladesh that explores how
far the test format and tools used in the SSC English examination and the marking procedure
adopted by examiners are in line with the intentions of the NCTB curriculum.
Test items are considered the building blocks of a test, and the validity of a test can be greatly
affected by the way the test items are developed and validated (Haladyna & Rodriguez, 2013).
According to Thorndike (1967), the more effort is put into building better test items, the better
the test is likely to be (as cited in Haladyna & Rodriguez, 2013, p. 3).
This chapter reports the findings of an impact study on the quality of the SSC examination
2017 by examining the quality of the questions set (test items) and the reliability of the marking
procedure, conducted by three out of eight examination boards. In particular, the following
research questions are put forward:
a. What is the quality of SSC English test questions in terms of their ability to discriminate
between more- and less-able candidates?
b. How well do the test questions specifically relate to the intentions of assessing reading and
writing skills in line with the SSC curriculum?
c. How reliable are the final marks awarded by the examiners and head examiners within three
examination boards?
Literature review
Limitations of the external high-stake examinations

Previous research has reported a number of limitations of high-stake standardised tests and their
adverse effects on students, teachers, the learning and teaching, administration, and policy makers.
In a study, Minarechova (2012) reported the negative effects of high-stake testing in Europe,
which include stress and frustration among students, teachers’ involvement in customised way of
teaching, ‘inappropriate test preparation’, administrators’ tendency to ‘enact policies to increase
test scores’ instead of learning, and policy makers’ reliance on a rather ‘simplistic view’ of edu-
cation and its goal (p. 94). The study by Winke (2011) found the high-stake test too difficult
and lengthy, especially for young learners, which eventually affects students’ psychological well-
being. There have been several research studies revealing identical effects of high-stake tests in
150
External examination on English language
the context of Bangladesh. These effects include narrowing of the curriculum by excluding the
speaking and listening components in the test format (Khan, 2010; Poddar, 2013), gaps between
the intended learning outcomes and test formats (Das, Shaheen, Shrestha, Rahman, & Khan,
2014), and a test culture that encourages learners to memorise answers (Das et al., 2014) or pre-
dict the questions (Choudhury, 2010), which eventually results in the spread of private coaching
and the guidebook industry (Al Amin & Greenwood, 2018).
Validity: A condition for test vs a property of test interpretation

In language testing literature, validity and reliability are regarded as the two basic criteria that any
language test must satisfy. While reliability got more attention during the early stage of research
in language testing, validity emerged as the most important point to consider in developing and
evaluating language tests (Van der Walt & Steyn, 2008). Alderson, Clapham, and Wall (1996, p.
182) described validity as “the extent to which a test or examination does what it is designed to
do”. This notion of validity suggests that validity is essentially an inherent feature or character-
istic of a test.
However, the current concept of validity views it “not as a characteristic of a test but as a prop-
erty of the interpretation of test scores” (Van der Walt & Steyn, 2008, p. 192). A review of the early
literature in the field of language testing reveals that the correct conception of validity, a property
of the interpretation of test scores, was developed in a number of scholarly moves and counter
moves pioneered by the works of Bachman (1990), Borsboom, Mellenburg, and Van Heerden
(2004), Fulcher and Davidson (2007), Messick (1989), and Weir (2005). While explaining the
more modern concept of validity, Akbari (2018) argues that validity is now regarded “not as a
property of the test per se, but of the interpretations of test scores and the decisions made based
on test and measurement results” (p. 1). The 2014 Standards for Educational and Psychological
Testing (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and
National Council on Measurement in Education) mention four interrelated sources of validity
of a test, namely, the content, the internal structure, the response processes, and relations to other
constructs. According to Educational Testing Service (2014), although validity is seen as a unified
concept, a wide variety of evidence may be taken into account while considering validity and the
validity evidence should be presented in a “coherent validity argument supporting the inferences
and actions made on the basis of the scores” (p. 15).
The validity of an English language examination paper is thus taken to relate to the English
curriculum, using questions, based on reading and writing that reflect the knowledge and skills
through coverage in terms of width and emphasis. This can be termed content validity. The
different question formats and the marks allotted to them are related to construct validity. Both
are important aspects in public examinations.
Reliability: Question of test score consistency

Reliability refers to the overall extent to which a test measures consistently (Bailey, 1998). A reli-
able test score needs to show consistency across different characteristics of the testing situation.
Thus, reliability can be considered to be a function of the consistency of scores from one set of
tasks tested to another (Bachman & Palmar, 1996). Mehrens and Lehman (1987) define reliability
as the degree of consistency between two different measures of the same item, while Worthen,
Borg, and White (1993) point out that reliability is the measure of the stability, dependency, trust-
worthiness, and consistency of a test while it is measuring the same thing at different times. If
an examination paper is trustworthy, it can be expected to be written in clear accurate language
151
and set out in a suitable manner. The marking needs to be reliable and consistent. However, later,
some researchers argued that reliability is no more a separate characteristic of a test; rather, it is
one of the features of validity, which can be termed ‘scoring validity’ (Van der Walt & Steyn, 2008,
p. 194). According to Educational Testing Service (2014), reliability should address consistency in
terms of a variety of ‘sources of differences’ such as differences in forms, differences from marker
to marker, and differences in performance over time (p. 26).
Test validation theory and methods

Research on test validation has developed numerous methods of test validation, including classical
test theory, Rasch measurement (McNamara, 1996), and factor analysis (Velicer & Jackson, 1990).
The classical test theory follows the psychometric tradition in testing and involves both test item
analysis and overall reliability of the test. Classical item analysis is done with a view to generating
data regarding item facility and item discrimination. According to Van der Walt and Steyn (2008,
p. 196), “item facility is the proportion of candidates who answered the item correctly, while item
discrimination is the extent to which the item discriminates between low and high performers”.
Item analysis is used to determine which items are not at the required difficulty level and do not
discriminate well among test takers.The current study on the validity of SSC English examination
draws on this classical item analysis and looks at the item facility and distribution of students’ scores
in order to determine the validity of the English test items.
Methodology
The research study followed a quantitative approach, which was conducted by analysing
candidates’ answers to the 2017 SSC English Paper I examination under three examination
boards. The question sets from the three BISE were also checked thoroughly to generate insights
into the quality of language used and the way instructions are given to set a certain test item.
The data collection procedure included collecting information from six head examiners from
each of the three BISE, who were chosen purposively from urban and rural areas keeping in mind
the wider representative sample size. Each head examiner was asked to collect sample data through
a systematic random sampling of 300 test scripts selected by taking every tenth script. In collecting
data from the 300 scripts, the head examiners were asked to take data from as many examiners
who marked SSC scripts under him/her as possible. Thus, marks were recorded for each part of
a question answered by more than 5000 candidates (about 1500–1800 under each selected BISE)
and the data obtained from candidates’ answer scripts were then analysed statistically.The details of
the target population and the sample size used for this study are shown in Table 10.1.
Since the current study is concerned with the performance of students in a number of test
items, it is important to maintain a consistency between mean value of sample size and total
Table 10.1 A comparison of the sample and the total population for the study
Sample data Population data
BISE Sample size Mean SD Mean SD Mean difference
Board 1 1790 60.66 16.89 52.90 19.13 7.76

Board 2 1802 55.28 17.68 60.38 19.09 −5.10
Board 3 1491 60.65 15.87 49.35 18.23 11.30
Total 5083
152
population. The less the difference between the two, the stronger is the assumption based on
the findings. It can be seen from Table 10.1 that the difference between the mean value of the
sample size and total population is wider than the expected range. However, the sample size is
large enough to make comments on the performance of students despite the difference between
the two means.
The SSC English test, Paper I, 2017

In the 2017 SSC examination, candidates were required to answer 12 questions giving 100 marks
in total. Diversified items were used to gather as much information as possible to seek candidates’
control over a number of language elements, which was done to increase the validity of the
test by covering the intended curriculum objectives. Details of the 12 questions, their intended
coverage, sub-components, and mark allocations are discussed below.
In total, 12 items are set in English paper 1 to assess candidates’ reading and writing skills.
Items 1–5 assess candidates’ reading skills while items 6–12 are based on assessing candidates’
writing skills. Items 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are dichotomous in nature and in this research study, the dif-
ficulty level of each dichotomous item was calculated in terms of a facility index, for which cut
points for Easy (>75%), High Average (65–75%), Expected (40–64%), and Difficult (<40%) levels
are arbitrarily decided by the researchers. Items 2, 3, and 8–12 are polytomous in nature (items
with multiple marks), and subjectivity plays a major role in marking, as no marking scheme is
supplied by the respective examination boards. The distribution patterns of items having mul-
tiple marks are explained against a normal distribution as it is intended to be norm-referenced
(see Figure 10.1).
According to this facility index, an item is deemed to be ‘easy’ when >75% candidates give
the correct response; ‘high average’ and ‘expected’ are indicated when 65–75% and 40–64%
candidates give the correct response, respectively. Finally, a ‘difficult’ item means the one to which
only <40% candidates give the correct response.
Findings and interpretation

The findings of the analysis of candidates’ score for questions 1–12 under all the three boards are
presented in this section along with researchers’ comments on the language and other ‘mech-
anical’ aspects of each question. However, the findings on the 12 questions are not presented in
Figure 10.1 Marks per polytomous item showing a normal distribution
153
Table 10.2 Candidates’ score on question 1: Board 1
Question part a b c d e f g
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% of cands. 12.0 88.0 20.3 79.7 15.0 85.0 17.5 82.5 23.6 77.4 25.1 74.9 23.8 76.2
Facility level Easy Easy Easy Easy Easy High av. Easy
N 1764 1749 1737 1696 1694 1640 1602
numerical order; rather, they are presented as they fall under the three sub-categories, namely,
selection type, supply type, and a mixed type of questions to keep the discussions of similar type
of questions together.
Selection type items carrying 1 or 0 marks (Questions 1, 4, 5, 6, and 7)
Question 1
Question 1 in all the three BISE consists of seven multiple-choice questions (a–g) based on
reading of a text. This question is intended to assess candidates’ reading skills, especially their
ability to infer the meaning of words and/or factual information, understand the grammar of
sentences, references, and linking of sentences by using available clues from the text. Candidates
are to be awarded one mark for each correct answer and zero for incorrect ones.
The percentage of candidates gaining 0 or 1 mark for each sub-part of question 1 under the
three BISE is shown in Tables 10.2–10.4.
As seen in the tables, almost all parts (a–g) are found to be easy for candidates under all
the three boards. This is not surprising for the first question in the examination. Nevertheless,
under Board 1, it is noted that only 1602 candidates answered the last part of the question, part
(g), which is 162 less compared with part (a). Part (f) was slightly more challenging where the
response comes directly from a careful reading of the text.
From looking at the reading text given for question 1 under Board 2, it is evident that the
question is very poorly written in English, but even so, most candidates found the items easy. It
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% of cands. 30.4 69.6 7.9 92.1 12.1 87.9 14.6 85.4 41.6 58.4 14.1 85.9 11.3 88.7
Facility level High av. Easy Easy Easy Expected Easy Easy
N 1802 1801 1799 1801 1796 1796 1784
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% of cands. 11.1 88.9 15.2 84.8 10.5 89.5 12.4 87.6 50.4 49.6 27.2 72.8 17.1 82.9
Facility level Easy Easy Easy Easy Expected High av. Easy
N 1490 1490 1490 1491 1491 1490 1488
154
Table 10.5 Distribution of candidates’ overall scores for question 1 under three Boards
Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Board 1 (N = 1490) % 0.7 3.3 4.8 6.9 12.3 14.4 21.8 35.7
Board 2 (N = 1802) % 0.6 1.3 2.6 5.2 10.4 16.0 25.7 38.3
Board 3 (N = 1491) % 0.0 0.5 1.9 4.1 10.4 22.5 39.2 21.5
is, thus, clear that this examination paper is not being checked either for quality or for suit-
ability and is likely to unfairly penalise some candidates. A concern found in part (e) of this
question is that candidates are able to answer by using the word ‘cope’, suggesting there is no
actual correct key.
As is the case with the reading text for Board 2 question, the text in Board 3 question is also
poorly edited and contains errors. Moreover, the parts are poorly constructed giving no idea
of what is/are being tested. Only part (e) meaningfully distinguishes between high ability and
average candidates. The lower percentage of candidates giving the correct response to part (f)
is almost certainly a result of the item being poorly written. All other items in question 1 are
deemed to be trivial.
Table 10.5 gives a comparison of the overall scores for question 1 from the three BISE.
It shows that more than 50% candidates, in all the three boards, obtain at least 6 out of 7
marks (more than 85%) on this question, which indicates that candidates are able to answer
the questions without meaningfully reading the passage. This suggests that the monitoring
of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) set is poor both in terms of stem/instruction and the
options given (which are not similar in length, neither free from repetitions nor avoiding
unintentional clues). As a result, the question setters are not seen as meaningfully testing
candidates’ ability in the English language, indicating that the validity of this question is
compromised under all the three examination boards.
Question 4
Question 4 is an information transfer activity based on the reading of a text and it is intended
to test learners’ reading and note-taking skills. However, the comparison of candidates’ score for
all the three examination boards indicates that all parts of the questions are straightforward and
most candidates can answer without difficulty (see Tables 10.6–10.8). It appears from the data
that the questions are too simple and do little to distinguish between the average and more-able
candidates. Question 4 needs to be more demanding and encompassing greater diversification of
format in presentation (only tabular format is used).
The percentages of candidates’ scores for question 4 under the three BISE, as shown in Table 10.9,
are high and in Board 2, over 70% candidates gaining full marks. Question 4 needs to be regarded
as an example of a question poorly set and it is clear that the question setters do not demonstrate
Question part a b c d e
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 2.8 97.2 7.8 92.2 10.1 89.9 21.2 78.8 7.4 92.6
Facility Easy Easy Easy Easy Easy
N 1763 1752 1739 1706 1668
155
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 6.0 94.0 4.8 95.2 12.8 87.2 5.8 94.2 15.4 84.6
N 1798 1797 1795 1794 1786
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 8.4 91.6 22.7 77.3 18.7 81.3 32.2 67.8 28.1 71.9
Facility Easy Easy Easy High av. High av.
N 1488 1488 1488 1486 1475
Score 0 1 2 3 4 5
Board 1 (N = 1790) % 1.8 1.3 4.1 6.6 24.7 61.5

Board 2 (N = 1802) % 1.1 0.7 2.4 6.0 18.7 71.1
Board 3 (N = 1491) % 1.8 3.4 8.2 18.4 27.5 40.6
the skills of setting more meaningful questions providing higher challenges, especially to the more-
able candidates.
Question 5
Question 5 is based on the same text used for question 4. Here, the candidates are required to fill
in the blanks with suitable words from their reading of the passage. Candidates are asked to use
one word only to fill in each blank. (The parts of speech related to the blanks vary.)
This question is again very easy for most candidates. In fact, for virtually all blanks, candidates
are simply asked to insert a word from the text. Clearly, the findings indicate that such questions
need to be more demanding if they are to play a discriminating role in the examination. In this
respect, some question parts under Board 2 are found to be more challenging, as question parts
(b), (c), and (e) are regarded as more meaningful. Unfortunately, the answer to part (b) is unclear,
which is a further instance where checking of the question set is either non-existent or poorly
executed (Tables 10.10–10.12).
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 7.3 92.7 15.6 84.4 6.8 93.2 6.9 93.1 6.7 93.3
N 1762 1749 1741 1719 1708
156
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 25.8 74.2 34.7 65.3 56.7 43.3 27.8 72.2 40.2 59.8
Facility High av. Expected Expected High av. Expected
N 1790 1787 1786 1785 1782
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 48.8 51.2 33.4 66.6 55.5 44.5 29.0 71.0 25.1 74.9
Facility Expected High av. Expected High av. High av.
N 1486 1487 1484 1484 1484
N Score 0 1 2 3 4 5
Board 1 1790 % 1.9 1.9 3.3 8.0 13.5 71.3

Board 2 1802 % 12.7 8.3 11.4 17.0 23.0 27.5
Board 3 1491 % 3.9 7.4 19.1 32.4 21.6 15.6
From the percentage of candidates’ scores for question 5, it is found that question 5 under
Board 1 is too easy (over 8% candidates obtaining a score of 4 or 5). Clearly, the question does
not distinguish between the average and more-able candidates (see Table 10.13). The question is
more challenging under Boards 2 and 3, but even so, over 60% candidates score more than half
of the allotted marks.
Question 6
Question 6 is a matching activity as the candidates are required to match the parts of sentences
given in column ‘A’ and column ‘B’ to make five complete sentences. There are more sentence
parts in one column than required. A comparison of candidates’ scores reveals that candidates
find the tasks to be easy under all the three boards, but slightly more challenging under Board 3.
Some candidates find parts (b) and (c), under Board 1, a little more difficult as there are grammat-
ical mistakes in the question for these parts, but it is surprising that only 1738 candidates seem
to respond to the deemed easy part (a) while, for part (e), which is also deemed easy, only 1652
candidates gave answer (Tables 10.14–10.16).
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 17.8 82.2 27.1 72.9 27.9 72.1 12.4 87.6 16.9 83.1
Facility Easy High av. High av. Easy Easy
N 1738 1703 1679 1668 1652
157
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 16.8 83.2 15.1 84.9 20.7 79.3 25.7 74.3 19.6 80.4
Facility Easy Easy Easy High av. Easy
N 1790 1786 1788 1787 1784
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 35.3 64.7 35.4 64.6 40.5 59.5 43.4 56.6 39.1 60.9
Facility Expected Expected Expected Expected Expected
N 1483 1485 1483 1485 1483
Table 10.17 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 6 under three Boards
N Score 0 1 2 3 4 5
Board 1 1790 % 4.6 6.6 9.8 15.3 14.1 49.6

Board 2 1802 % 5.4 6.2 6.2 9.4 11.9 61.0
Board 3 1491 % 11.0 14.4 14.9 11.3 15.6 32.9
Overall, candidates’ scores under the three boards for question 6 show that the question does
little to distinguish between average and more-able candidates. The question under each exam-
ination board is poorly constructed and again the monitoring of the question either by the
question setters or moderator is poor (Table 10.17).
Question 7
Question 7 is a re-arrangement task in which candidates are required to put various parts of a
story in the most appropriate order. The candidates are awarded one mark for putting a part in
the right order and zero for the incorrect order. However, it is sometimes difficult to decide the
right order, if there are insufficient verbal, as well as textual, clues given.Tables 10.18–10.22 show
the percentage scores for question 7.
The question under all the three boards is shown not to be very demanding and does not
strongly distinguish between average and more-able candidates. While under Board 2 more than
half the candidates obtained full marks for this question (see Table 10.21), it seems that candidates
tend towards either gaining full marks or none. This pattern is not repeated in the other boards.
Question part a b c d e f g h
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 10.5 89.5 12.8 87.2 22.2 77.8 33.2 66.8 35.5 64.5 33.2 66.8 25.4 74.6 24.4 75.6
Facility Easy Easy Easy High av. Expected High av. High av. Easy
N 1754 1739 1671 1600 1617 1625 1617 1601
158
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 29.5 70.5 29.1 70.9 30.0 70.0 34.5 65.5 33.8 66.2 33.8 66.2 36.4 63.6 30.4 69.6
Facility High av. High av. High av. High av. Expected High av. Expected High av.
N 1792 1789 1788 1789 1788 1786 1785 1778
Score 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
% 16.1 83.9 28.5 71.5 27.6 72.4 35.9 64.1 37.1 62.9 37.1 62.9 37.4 62.6 33.1 66.9
Facility Easy High av. High av. Expected High av. Expected Expected High av.
N 1485 1488 1487 1486 1484 1482 1480 1480
Table 10.21 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 7 under three Boards
Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Board 1 % 2.0 2.2 6.8 7.4 11.6 8.8 27.8 2.5 31.1
Board 2 % 20.0 5.8 2.4 2.1 4.3 3.9 6.6 2.6 52.4
Board 3 % 2.9 6.4 10.7 9.6 6.9 6.4 9.4 3.8 44.0
Supply-type items (Questions 3, 8, and 9)

Questions 3, 8, and 9 are guided writing tasks that are marked subjectively. Question 3 is based
on the same reading text for questions 1 and 2 but candidates are required to write a summary
(the number of words ranging from 90 to 110 words). Candidates can be awarded between 0 and
10 marks for their answers.
For this question, the question setters follow a standard format, leaving little scope for vari-
ation. Nevertheless, a concern is the variation in the number of words specified for the tasks
across the three boards, which ranges from 90 to 110 words. The findings from candidates’ score
do not give a clear indication of how well the summaries are marked by examiners. Table 10.22
shows that, under all Boards, the mark distribution peaks in the 5–8 mark range, suggesting
impression marking being used, with Board 2 tending to be the strictest.
Question 8 asks to produce a written paragraph by answering some questions. While the
question under Board 1 gives a word limit of 250 words, the same question under Board 2 limits
the word count to 150 for this task, and this question under Board 3 gives no indication of any
word limit. In addition to the word limits, the topics for the paragraph across the three boards
differ. For example, it appears that writing about ‘Your Visit to a Place of Historical Interest’
Table 10.22 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 3 under the three BISE
Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Board 1 (N = 1774) % 2.5 0.3 1.6 4.7 7.3 13.2 21.6 21.5 24.0 2.8 0.4
Board 2 (N = 1796) % 4.5 0.4 2.6 7.1 10.7 20.3 20.6 16.4 14.0 1.0 2.3
Board 3 (N = 1491) % 0.9 0.1 0.5 3.0 4.5 13.2 24.9 22.9 23.2 3.7 3.2
159
(Board 2) and ‘A Street Accident’ (Board 1) is more difficult for both the weak and very able
candidates when compared to the topic of ‘A Winter Morning (Board 3)’. Candidates’ scores for
this item also illustrate that the range of percentage scores obtained by candidates tends to follow
a normal distribution.
Question 9 is a writing task that asks students to complete a story by writing ten new sentences.
Ten marks are allocated for this question. The percentage of candidates’ scores for this question
also shows that the scores obtained by the candidates under all three boards tend to form a
normal distribution.
Question 10
Question 10 is a situational composition and seeks candidates’ ability to describe a chart. The
responses tend to form a normal distribution, which is similar across the three boards (see
Figures 10.2–10.4).
As there is no marking scheme, the marking is reliant on the examiners who naturally tend
towards marking based on a distribution that relates to a normal curve skewed to the higher end
of the marks, that is, most candidates gain a mark in the middle of the range 4–7.
Question 11
This is a letter-writing task. A marking scheme with rubrics is needed for reliable marking as
it is a situational composition. However, there is no specific marking scheme, which often may
account for impression marking, as examiners are free to give their own interpretation of the
strength of responses. As a result, most of the markers try to stand in a comfortable/safe zone, that
is, they have a central tendency while marking, which does not lend itself to promoting reliable
marking. This tendency turns into a normal distribution of students’ score for this item, which is
reflected in Figures 10.5–10.7.
Figure 10.2 Distribution of candidates’ scores for question 10 under Board 1
160
Question 12
This is an open-ended writing task that requires candidates to write a dialogue on a given topic.
Table 10.23 shows that the distribution of marks relates to a normal distribution. As there is no
marking scheme, the marking tends to be more harsh for certain markers as can be seen in the
marks awarded under Board 2.
161
Question 2 where scores of 0, 1, and 2 per part are possible

In all the three boards, question 2 is based on the same reading text used in question 1. However,
candidates are required to respond to five short-answer questions based on the text, with each
of the five short-answer questions carrying 2 marks. Such marking can lend itself to a sub-
jective element in the marking, but it still seems dichotomous in nature, allowing the marker to
162
determine whether the candidates’ partial responses deserve 0 or 1 mark. Candidates’ score in this
item indicates that most of the candidates have got the maximum marks (results for this item have
not been presented in tabular form due to word constraints). This might happen due to the easi-
ness of asking of the item or lenient marking. The results also indicate that gaining 2 marks per
item under Board 2 is more difficult than that under the other boards. The answer to the passage
under Board 2 is not well written in terms of length as it is much longer (345 words) than that
of the other two boards (Board 1 – 266 words and Board 2 – 201 words) and here candidates
may well be indicating that they have difficulty in interpreting the passage and hence the high
percentage of candidates gaining 1 mark instead of 2.
An analysis of question 2 shows that this question has more diversity than question 1 and is
more capable of distinguishing between average and more-able candidates.
The overall scores, as shown in Table 10.24, suggest that candidates gain from meaningful questions
as is the case with question 2 under Board 3. The low percentage of scores for obtaining 8 marks
Table 10.23 Percentage distribution of candidates’ scores for question 12 under three Boards
Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Board 1 (N = 1739) % 3.5 3.1 6.9 8.1 10.8 13.1 16.5 14.2 19.0 3.1 1.7
Board 2 (N = 1760) % 4.4 5.4 9.1 10.5 12.5 15.6 15.7 11.7 13.1 1.8 0.2
Board 3 (N = 1468) % 3.2 2.0 6.5 8.3 12.9 14.4 16.6 13.6 14.1 4.0 4.4
Table 10.24 Percentage of candidates’ scores for question 2 under three Boards
Score 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Board 1 (N = 1790) % 3.2 0.6 3.2 3.4 9.7 12.3 16.5 13.0 24.7 4.5 8.8
Board 2 (N = 1802) % 12.2 3.3 9.2 6.3 12.9 13.4 15.4 8.4 11.0 2.2 5.8
Board 3 (N = 1491) % 0.9 0.1 2.1 1.8 14.8 7.9 24.7 10.8 23.8 2.2 10.8
163
Table 10.25 Comparison of all candidates’ total score in English Paper 1
Board
% score
33–39
40–44
45–49
50–54
55–59
60–64
65–69
70–74
75–79
80–84
85–89
90–94
95–99
(No. of
<33
cands.)
Board 1 %N 2.5 3.3 5.8

3.2 14.1 2.7 17.2 3.1 15.8 2.1 15.0 3.9 1.7 0.1
(1790) 20% candidates
Board 2 %N 0.5 11.3 12.1 5.5 14.2 6.0 12.8 4.9 9.5 3.2 10.1 3.0 0.9 0.0
Board 3 %N 0.7 6.8 9.9 6.5 18.0 4.8 16.0 4.3 13.9 1.8 12.8 3.3 2.5 0.8
or more out of 10 for Board 2 seems to be largely related to the poor manner in which the
questions are asked.
Comparison of total scores for English Paper 1 for candidates

under the three boards
Table 10.25 illustrates the total scores obtained by candidates from all the three boards. It is seen
that failure rate is low, mainly because of the poor question setting for questions 1–7, where high
marks are easily obtained. As a result, average candidates are pushed up towards the 80% score
level and there is a very low overall failure percentage (<33%).
Example of marks distribution pattern in English Paper 1 under the three BISE
Figures 10.8–10.10 show the distribution of total scores for paper 1 from all candidates in the
sample across the three boards.The distribution is from low marks for totals below 30 out of 100
increasing to the 60–70-marks range before decreasing towards 94 marks out of 100. Interestingly,
Figure 10.8 Mark distribution pattern for Board 1

164

165
the number of candidates on specific marks like 33, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 are abnormally high
with corresponding marks below this peaks much less than expected. This can be cited as an
example of examiner interference, awarding ‘grace’ marks (extra marks) to help move candidates
to the next grade boundary. Clearly, this is easy to do for the essay questions, if marking is by
impression and there is no specific marking scheme.
Discussion
The findings presented relate to some serious concerns regarding the quality of the test items
used in the SSC English test questions. All the seven dichotomous test items indicate the question
setters’ inadequate knowledge and skills of developing and validating test items. The items are
found to be poorly written, sometimes in faulty English, which indicates that the test items were
not reviewed either for quality or for suitability. These types of test items indicate the overall
poor quality of the SSC English test as the quality of a test mainly depends on the quality of test
items (Oluseyi & Olufemi, 2011).
For the MCQ items, some of the distractors are unclear or confusing, which is a further instance
where checking of question set is either non-existent or poorly executed. Moreover, there are
findings in this study that report the MCQ items’ inadequacy to discriminate between the average
and more-able students. Although it is reported by researchers like Tsagari (1994) that multiple-
choice items were ‘significantly easier and less discriminating’ than more open-ended items, they
are considered more reliable as they do not have the negative effect of subjectivity (Ozturk, 2007).
Another concern revealed from the findings of the MCQ items (part of items) is they are
poorly constructed giving no clue of what is/are being tested. This questions the content val-
idity of the items, which indicates that candidates are able to answer the questions without
meaningfully reading the passage. This suggests that the monitoring of MCQ items is poor in
terms of both stem/instruction and the options given (which are not similar in length, with no
avoidance of repetition giving unintended clues, etc.). As a result, the question setters are not seen
as meaningfully testing candidates’ ability in the English language, indicating that the validity of
this question is compromised under all the three examination boards. This finding goes contrary
to the argument of previous research that encouraged the use of MCQ items, particularly for
testing foreign language skills as such items are likely to fulfil the condition of content validity
(Adisutrisno, 2008; Mousavi, 2002).
Test items like information transfer, fill in the blanks, completing sentences, and rearranging
sentences are also found to be quite straightforward, which most candidates can answer without
difficulty. The data reveal that all these questions are too simple to discriminate between average
and more-able students.
In the supply-type items there are instances of following a standard format (at least for sum-
mary and paragraph writing) leaving little scope for variation. Nevertheless, a concern is the vari-
ation in the number of words specified for the tasks across the three boards, which ranges from
150 to 300 words for such guided and more free-writing tasks.This type of variations in terms of
the content of an item refers to the inconsistency that may affect the reliability of candidate score,
and thus raise questions regarding the validity of the test item (Educational Testing Service, 2014).
In addition to the word limits, the topics for the paragraph across the three boards differ. For
example, it appears that writing about ‘Your Visit to a Place of Historical Interest’ (Board 2) and
‘A Street Accident’ (Board 1) is more difficult for both the weak and very able candidates when
compared to the topic of ‘A Winter Morning’! Thus, these items have failed to represent a well-
defined set of language skills in terms of level of difficulty as well as subject matter to be covered
and have compromised the condition of content validity (Akbari, 2018).
166
The findings from candidates’ score in the supply-type items do not give a clear indication of
how well they are marked by examiners. In fact, candidates’ scores for these items illustrate that
the range of percentage scores obtained by candidates tends to follow a normal distribution. For
most items, the marks distribution peaks in the 5–8 mark range, suggesting impression marking
being used. This type of scores obtained by students is very difficult to interpret and they do not
tell much about candidate’s competence in the target language. Similar finding has been reported
by Ali and Sultana (2016) and Haider (2008), who concluded that the score obtained by students
of the Higher Secondary English test in Bangladesh is unrelated to what is being tested and they
can be affected by some other abilities which the test does not intend to measure (e.g. memor-
isation skill).
This type of marking is caused by the Examination Boards’ failure to supply a marking scheme
for the supply-type item. A marking scheme with rubrics is needed for reliable marking of a
situational composition like letter writing. However, there is no specific marking scheme, which
often may account for impression marking as examiners are free to give their own interpretation
of the strength of responses. As a result, most of the markers try to stand in a comfortable/safe
zone, that is, they have a central tendency while marking, which does not lend itself to promoting
reliable marking. This tendency thus turns into a normal distribution of students’ score for most
supply-type items.
Interestingly, the number of candidates on specific marks like 33, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 are
abnormally high whereas the corresponding marks below those peaks were much less than
expected.This can be cited as an example of examiner interference, awarding ‘grace’ marks (extra
marks) to help move candidates to the next grade boundary. Clearly, this is easy to do for the essay
questions if marking is by impression and there is no specific marking scheme.
Conclusion
The analysis of candidates’ scores, as presented in the previous section, indicates some alarming
features of the SSC English Paper 1 examination paper. One consistent feature is the facility
of the questions. The questions are too easy and, thus, poorly discriminating between students
with higher and average abilities. The absence of any form of test specification for the objective
questions might be another reason for such poor question setting. This also may account for the
poor monitoring of the questions.
A major concern for the SSC English Paper 1 is the way the questions and any text supplied
with the questions have been written. There are numerous examples of poor English in the
written text supplied to candidates, poorly edited text, and poorly worded instructions for the
candidates. This is unacceptable for a question paper that is intended to test candidates’ English
language skills.
Based on the way the English Paper 1 is marked, the reliability of the marking procedure is
another issue of concern. It is found that responses to the open-ended items are being marked
without any marking scheme.This lends itself to impression marking where examiners are free to
give their own interpretation of the strength of responses. This allows the examiner to be guided
by marks given to other questions and ‘guess’ a suitable distribution pattern for candidates’ scores
for question 3 and for questions 8–12.
Moreover, the findings on the distribution of total scores make it evident that the percentage
of scores at the grade boundaries is far greater than the scores prior or immediately after the
grade boundaries. Noting the large number of candidates sitting for the examination under each
examination board, it is expected (as per examination scores in general) that the range follows a
normal distribution (low at the beginning rising to its highest in the middle before decreasing
167
for the higher marks with the lowest number of candidates at the very highest marks). With this
in mind, it is clear that the higher scores at the grade boundaries are coming from marker inter-
ference. In fact, the mark distribution pattern confirms the presence of ‘grace’ marks, whereby
examiners (or head examiners) are raising marks for candidates who do not quite reach the
higher grade boundaries. This sort of practice gives rise to questioning the inter-marker reli-
ability of the examination papers. It penalises candidates where scripts are not all treated in the
same way (i.e. those candidates not awarded the ‘grace’ marks).
The findings in this research have important implications for all concerned with designing,
marking, and administering the SSC English examination.The findings indicate that the question
setters are given insufficient guidance as to the appropriateness of questions to set, which are
being very poorly monitored for their alignment with the intentions of the curriculum. It is also
imperative from this study that examiners are required to follow a meaningful marking scheme.
In fact, careful monitoring of the marking by examiners needs to be accepted as a crucial step
if examination outcomes are to be seen as reliable. This means holistic or analytical rubrics are
made available to examiners and their suitability agreed by all examiners prior to major marking
of scripts.
While the practice of awarding ‘grace’ marks is not actually condoned, the concerned
Examination Board needs to be more aware of such practices and be ready to ensure greater
monitoring of total scores, thus checking that distributions of scores are appropriate and mean-
ingful because, without carefully monitoring of the examination process, reliability suffers.
Assessment and teaching are intertwined. To make teaching decisions effective, examinations
need to be valid and lead to reliable assessment results (Nitko, 2001).The above findings from the
results of English Paper I used in the public examination (SSC, 2017) indicate that the test items,
especially those which are dichotomous in nature, are not crafted carefully and the assessment
results provide poor feedback to teachers as guidance to teaching effectively in the classroom and
to be in line with the intentions of Bangladesh Curriculum 2012.
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Publishing Group.
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PART IV
Teaching English language

versus literature
11
GRACE UNDER FIRE
A reflection on the state of English
studies in Bangladesh
Shamsad Mortuza
Grace under fire

The plight of an English professor in J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace resonates with many of our literature
professors (Haq, 2001). True to its title, the novel surveys multiple layers of disgrace experienced
by Professor Lurie who taught Classics and Modern Languages for 25 years and authored three
books on Faust, Eros, and Wordsworth. Once Lurie’s original department was shut down ‘as
part of the great rationalization’, he became an adjunct professor of composition at a ‘Technical’
university (Coetzee, 1999, p. 3). For Lurie, “the origins of speech lie in song, and the origins of
song in the need to fill out with sound the overlarge and rather empty human soul” (p. 4). The
Professor realises that his hitherto believed aesthetic ideas are out of sync with his vocation: “But
then, so are other of his colleagues from the old days, burdened with upbringings inappropriate
to the tasks they are set to perform; clerks in a post-religious age” (p. 4).
The ‘emasculation’ and relegation of Lurie in post-apartheid South Africa runs parallel to the
dwindling role of humanities in a neo-liberal milieu. In a spiritual nadir following the world
wars, the Arnoldian–Leavisite humanism, which once viewed literature as a pseudo-religion,1 has
started to lose its charm. The supposed ‘impracticality’ of pursuing English literature is constantly
harped on: those who matter react by downsizing the budget for the discipline, and those who
hardly matter react by scandalising it. The Daily Beast’s (2012) ranking of English as seventh among
13 ‘useless’ degrees proffers an example. Low enrolments in English programmes have not helped
the cause either; in the United States, admission percentage dropped from 7.6 in 1970 to 3.9 in
2004 (Chace, 2009, p. 32). Concerns over intake have caused many universities to expand the
scope of English Studies. On one hand, English departments have refurbished themselves as inter-
disciplinary discourses that theorise race, gender, culture, and/or environment; on the other, they
have promoted the ‘learn-to-earn’ model that focuses on language learning and teacher training.
In Bangladesh, the latter gained momentum with the twin pistons of the Private University
Act in 1992 and the availability of donor funds. Once Higher Education (HE) became freed
of public purse-strings, a new generation of private universities mushroomed where English
departments found themselves in a backward-linkage role offering feeder-service to other aca-
demic departments. In the last 30 years, the number of public universities has grown from 6 to 41,
of which many are technical universities requiring compulsory English courses. In addition, the
University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved 103 private universities and 4 international
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Shamsad Mortuza
universities where the medium of instruction is English. The subliminal objectives of these uni-
versities, albeit unmentioned in their brochures, are about adding value to their clients than instil-
ling values in their students.The service-provider/client model of teaching highlights employable
skills of the ‘student-clients’ as the ultimate objective; the transformative aspect of education in
which knowledge is supposed to liberate human minds for physical, moral, and intellectual pro-
gress suddenly takes a backseat (Freire, 1972). While traditional syllabi of English Studies still
rely on the humanistic outcome, illustrating “how human beings give artistic expression to their
experience of the world” (Rosovsky, 1991, p. 116), the growing focus on the communicative
aspect of language changes the equation. Since the 1990s, a steady influx of overseas projects
and funds boosted the ELT stream (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014), an idea to which I shall return.
The dominant trend in most private universities is to invest in subjects that produce instantly
marketable graduates and quantifiable research to improve overall intake, ranking, and accredit-
ation potential. All universities are required to go through compliance and standardisation; the
once ‘sage on the stage’, who gave their daily sermons on the greatness of Shakespeare and
Milton, are suddenly asked to fill out clerical forms to conform to Bloom’s taxonomy and
learning outcomes for the World Bank–funded Quality Assurance Cells. Even public univer-
sities, notwithstanding their proclaimed autonomy under the 1973 Education Act, are required
to chant the quality mantra and draft outcome-based curricula. Many teachers suddenly find
themselves in a Lurie-like situation where they teach no longer out of passion, but out of habit.
Towards the end of the novel, Lurie confronts his former servant Petrus for supposedly stage-
managing his daughter’s rape. He ends up cowering before his new land-owner and reflecting on
the disgraced English language:
English is an unfit medium for the truth of South Africa. Stretches of English code
whole sentences long have thickened, lost their articulations, their articulateness, their
articulatedness. Like a dinosaur expiring and settling in the mud, the language has stiffened.
Pressed in the mould of English, Petrus’s story would come out arthritic, bygone.
(Coetzee, 1999, p. 117)
A similar nostalgia about the heydays of English still colonises some of us who ruminate about
watching Shakespearean plays at the British Council or romancing the lush green lawn of the colo-
nial bungalow that housed the most beautiful and resourceful library on art and literature. We are
‘hurt’ by the UK government’s sudden disinterestedness in the promotion of British culture and
its hyper-interest in the marketing of the English language as a product. We feel equally betrayed
by our colleagues who have switched sides; before language teaching became fashionable they too
were enthused by the wit and diction of the English language. As we hold onto the last garrison of
English literature, we get confused by the new vanguards of English language teaching (ELT), who
focus mostly on this particular segment of Applied Linguistics and leave the study of pure linguis-
tics (e.g. the study of syntax and semantics) and critical literary analysis in the margin. The critical
awareness of literature teachers detects the way the language teachers have fallen prey to the donors’
agenda and expresses concerns over the contributions of the language teachers in the nation-
wide decline of the standard of English. As part of the UK-sponsored English Language Teaching
Improvement Project (ELTIP), the Government of Bangladesh assigned the National Curriculum
and Textbook Board (NCTB) to develop CLT-oriented textbooks (Ali & Walker, 2014, p. 34).The
result is the English for Today series for Grades I–XII (nctb.gov.bd). Aimed to enhance communi-
cative competence, communicative language teaching (CLT) emphasises “speaking and listening
skills, on writing for specific communicative purposes, and on authentic reading texts” (Brown,
1993, p. 226). NCTB’s (1996, p. 136) bold claim that the shift from hitherto practised Grammar
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State of English studies in Bangladesh
Translation Method (GTM) to CLT would teach English “as something to be used, rather than as
something to be talked about”, soon proved empty. Most high school graduates are entering uni-
versities without the necessary linguistic competency, creating special needs for remedial courses.
For English departments, the problem is even more nuanced. Gayatri Spivak’s (2012) insight
in the context is useful:
What is the basic difference between teaching a second language as an instrument of

communication and teaching the same language so that the student can appreciate lit-
erature?. …There is a certain difference in orientation between the language classroom
and the literature classroom. In the former, the goal is an active and reflexive use of the
mechanics of the language. In the latter, the goal is at least to shape the mind of the
student so that it can resemble the mind of the so-called implied reader of the literary
text, even when that is a historically distanced cultural fiction. (p. 36)
Indeed, how do we train students to become ‘implied readers’ when they are not even ready
to become basic readers? And then, we expect these students to acquire teachers’ training tools
at an undergraduate level? The role of the English departments in Bangladesh is far from clear.
The situation has been aggravated by the lack of vision and guidance of the policy-makers
and jingoist-ideologues whose populist nationalism does not allow them to encourage language
immersion. While everyone recognises the ‘international’ needs for learning English, nobody
dares to scratch the ‘national wounds’ – a source of pride involving the language martyrs who
died defending the mother tongue Bangla in 1952 when the Pakistani rulers tried to impose
Urdu as a State language. Bangla is a sensitive issue, and the ‘English Question’ is fraught with, to
borrow Kachru’s (1997) observation about India, an agonising ‘schizophrenia’ (p. 100).
The English departments are facing challenges from both within and outside, but the case is
far from curious.William Chace (2009) highlights the friction in the American context, which is
equally true for us. He thinks that English professors are in denial about their marginalisation in
academia, instigating many ‘self-centred’ drifts:
Amid a chaos of curricular change, requirements dropped and added, new areas of study
in competition with older ones, and a variety of critical approaches jostling against
each other, many faculty members, instead of reconciling their differences and finding
solid ground on which to stand together, have gone their separate ways. As they have
departed, they have left behind disorder in their academic discipline, (p. 38)
The present chapter, thus, attempts to explain the chaos that plagues English departments in
Bangladesh. It explores the pandemonium caused by dissident voices to argue that our ‘infighting’
is leaving us unprepared for new threats against Humanities. The exponential growth in tech-
nology, dubbed as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), poses new challenges. Any discussion
on the future of English Studies must go beyond the rift between the literary and the literacy
camps, and turn the challenge into an opportunity. Let me unpack these issues from a personal
perspective. I shall begin by pointing out the paradigm shift in literary studies.
The times they are a-changin’2

In 2016, the Swedish Academy shocked the world by awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature
to rock-singer Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American
song tradition” (nobelprize.org). The radical announcement surprised even the recipient who
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Shamsad Mortuza
delayed the award acknowledgement by six months, and began his acceptance speech wondering
how his songs were related to literature. He recalled the long list of literary texts that he had
read at Grammar School that taught him the power of storytelling and inculcated ‘principles
and sensibilities and an informed view of the world’ (nobelprize.org). Dylan hesitated to rank
himself among the greats, but he identified his authorial power in his musicality that needed to
be heard.
The award heralds a changing time and a recognition of popular culture as literature. Even
though Bob Dylan anchored himself in the canonical tradition, many saw the endorsement as
a sharp break from Nobel’s grand tradition. My department organised a debate to weigh the
merits of the Nobel Prize by asking some fundamental questions: What is literature? What does
literature do? What do we do with literature? We used the occasion to demonstrate English
departments’ engagement with current issues, without resorting to formulaic calculus or business
models. As an organiser, it was a personal vindication, my response to the university authority’s
boastful claim that the business school was bringing the dough, while the humanities were
enjoying the pizza-toppings.
Things were not as difficult 30 years ago when I attended a public university. I got admitted
to the English department knowing its degree was ‘good’. There was no brochure to clarify the
mission/vision of the department. The ‘goodness’ of the subject was confirmed by the successful
English graduates working as government ministers, corporate bosses, diplomats, bankers,
teachers, newspaper editors, or NGO leaders. Traditionally, English graduates are among the
most successful candidates in the highly competitive civil-service examinations. A quick glance at
the academic background of the officers from the administration cadre of a particular batch will
illustrate the case: 47 out of 250 officers had their first degrees in English (18.8%), followed by
Sociology (6.4%), Economics (5.6%), Law (4.8%), and International Relations (4.4%) (A Souvenir
of Bangladesh Civil Service Officers, 27th Batch).
Unfortunately, there is no formal mapping between the English degree and the job market.
The shortage of English teachers, however, periodically haunts the media. Bangladesh Bureau of
Educational Information and Statistics (2008) reports:
Only around 12% of the English teachers received basic subject in-service training
for more than 1 month. Around 37% English teachers received in-service training for
1 month and lesser period. 25% of them received training for 15 days and less. It is evi-
dent that the in-service training for the English teachers is quite inadequate to make
them conversant on the subject. 63.98% of the respondent English teachers completed
degree with only 100 marks in English and only 9.20% of them passed degree with 300
marks in English. 26.82% of the English teachers did not have English at their degree
levels. (Study on Qualification and Training)
The appalling figures presented above may prove our debate between literature and language as
fanciful as most schoolteachers did not even attend universities; some completed the two-year
graduation with one compulsory English course. Yet we expect them to use CLT, a model that
requires language immersion and cultural sensitivity. The bigger question remains: Why are our
graduates not teaching at schools? An educated guess is – money. A schoolteacher’s salary is so
paltry that it does not attract any graduate who has invested so much in HE. Recently, the High
Court ordered the government to give the 10th-grade basic salary-scale (Tk. 16,000, equivalent
to $200) per month to primary school headmasters instead of the existing Tk. 12,000 ($150)
(The Daily Star, 25 February 2019). No wonder, the graduates are drawn to jobs where their
disciplinary knowledge is hardly relevant.
176
The editors of the proceedings of a recently organised conference, titled, English Studies and
the Marketplace, observe:
English Studies has found itself precariously poised between the values it has tradition-
ally transmitted to its graduates and the instrumental demands of the marketplace.There
is friction between … the humanistic outlook that it has cultivated for generations now,
and … the dictates of the job market and the relentless pressure exerted by forces of
capitalism on the education sector.
(Alam, Haque, & Ahmed, 2018, p. iii)
I find this left-leaning academic criticism at odds with our adopted learning objectives. Are not
we constantly reminded by the status quo to prepare our students to acquire skills so that they
can serve the capitalist machinery? It appears that our convoluted convictions as educators often
do our students a disservice. It is important to ensure that our students receive what we promise.
If we promise that we will provide them critical thinking abilities with an additional critical
reading and writing skills, we should deliver that. If we identify lifelong learning as the main
objective of HE, we should work towards attaining that. If we want them to have a 360-degree
knowledge imbued with open mindedness and empathy, if we want them to have communica-
tive skills with cultural sensitivity, then we should design our syllabi accordingly. The texts need
not be restricted to the Anglophone world; they can come from different contexts and origins.
They can make us aware of both World Englishes and World literature. But the problem arises when
we try to impart HE at a level for which our incoming students are far from ready.This issue dates
back to the country’s first university that offered a degree in English. The University of Dhaka
(DU) faced similar problems during its inception in 1921, and we have not found a solution in
the last 100 years. The ‘divide and rule’ policy of the British Raj that informed the foundation of
the university has morphed into the division bells that ring inside the English departments today.
Dhaka University: The ground zero of English studies in Bangladesh

DU is the first university in the country to offer a degree in English. The English department,
headed by the famous grammarian C. L. Wren, was one of the 12 departments with which the
University started. Teaching was modelled after the Oxford tutorial system, and faculty recruit-
ment was done through Times Educational Supplement. As in other parts of the British Empire,
the colonial design of the university was to create a civil society to support the State-machinery
(Viswanathan, 1989). Ironically, it was the British-trained educated middle class that turned
against their masters. The British eventually left the subcontinent not before throwing one final
punch: the Partition.
The religion-based partition between India and Pakistan in 1947 caused a mass exodus, and
atrophied an intellectual vacuum in DU as most Hindu teachers had to migrate. ‘The acute
staffing problem’ was highlighted by a maverick female professor from Australia, who joined
DU in a nascent country that was reeling from the Partition pangs. A.G. Stock’s Memoirs of Dacca
University 1947–1951 (2017) is a wonderful account not only of her stint in Dhaka during the
East Pakistan period but also of her minute observations on the ‘English question’ that troubles
us till today. The sudden evacuation of efficient teachers from the system coupled with the pol-
itical gesture of spreading HE and making it accessible to a vast number of students made DU
compromise its quality. And the downward trend has continued.
Soon after the Partition, all colleges offering Intermediate (i.e. higher secondary), B.A., and
B.Sc. courses in East Pakistan were annexed with DU (Stock, 2017, p. 59) as Calcutta University
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Shamsad Mortuza
became inaccessible. The University was given the impossible job of dealing with both incum-
bent and incoming students, most of whom have little or no exposure to everyday English.
During the British period, even small town schools and colleges had some native speaking
(mostly missionaries) schoolteachers.With the spread of education, English reached areas “where
outside the classroom English was never heard and rarely seen in print” (Stock, 2017, p. 62). Stock
touts the Intermediate system as a sheer joke. She writes: “In effect, we were taking ten thou-
sand men and women, the most promising brains of their generation, through two years’ inten-
sive training in saying not what they honestly thought but what they believed someone more
powerful wished them to say” (p. 69).
In the absence of the ‘symbolic capital’, students resorted to a culture of rote-learning and
rehearsed what others had said. Stock (2017, p. 144) wryly observes that all learning has been
‘marks driven’ as there were too many people applying for too few jobs. The consequence of
such a competitive scenario led to two ancillary cultures: ‘Culture of transmission’ encourages
a learner to maintain obligations and proprieties to such an extent that the elements of choice
become minimum.‘Culture of initiative’ involves a surrender to authority;“The young man, who
in every context he understood, from the choice of a wife to the interpretation of an ancient text,
knew that the right judgments were those of the right authorities” (Stock, 2017, p. 144).
What good is literature then if it does not unsettle the culture of submission? Stock (2017,
p. 147) has a stock answer: “In Bengal students came to English literature with a much more
intense awareness of their own literature … they might not write good English, but they could
carry over ideas from the English class into Bengali”. She thus foreshadows the debate on the
fallacy of mono-lingualism: “Monolingual instruction creates a false impression that students
who are better at English are better students, which is not the case” (Rafi, 2019, n.p.). Stock
praises her students’ ability to relate to the essential human component of literature. These are
the same students who resisted the encroachment of Urdu as a State language but recognised
the worthiness of English literature. In the creative minds of the English students, “enrichment
of the literature was an enrichment of the national life” (Stock, 2017, p. 148). No wonder,
some of the prominent Bengali writers have been students of the English Departments:
Buddhadeva Bose, Munier Chowdhury, Syed Ali Ahsan, Shamsur Rahman, and Syed Shamsul
Haq to name a few.
A historical analogue of the situation can be found in the pre-Partition Bengal renaissance.
Postcolonial historian Dipesh Chakrabarty, for instance, traced the link between literature and the
politics of identity in British Bengal. He argued that at the height of the anticolonial nationalism
in Bengal, a certain romantic mood prevailed among the educated middle class that “perceived
[a] connection between identity and aesthetic activity in the realms of art, music, literature
and language” (Chakrabarty, 2004, p. 658). Chakrabarty illustrated his point by highlighting the
prominent Bangla scholar Dinesh Sen as a product of the English department. Sen searched “for
the roots of the distinctiveness and for pride in the Bengali way of life” (p. 660), and English
Studies offered him “spiritual solutions to what ailed the spirit of the English-educated, romantic
Bengali man” (pp. 666–667).
Stock detected a similar soul-searching in her students who later got involved in the political
dream of creating an independent country.Writing about the anti-British sentiment, Chakrabarty
(2004), however downplays the political aspect of literature. For him, nation-building involves
the social structure, and ‘literary spirit’ is not enough to change the social dynamics. He posits,
“One could politicize literature, distinguish political from so-called nonpolitical literature, or
read literature politically in the interest of social science” (p. 669). Hence, the literary fort receives
yet another assault in which its power to wield political will is disabled. English departments are
no strangers to such disciplinary politics. In a newly established Bangladesh, therefore, English
178
became not only a subject of politics but also was subjected to politics. The greatest of which
involves the question of national language.
Bangla matters
Once Bangladesh earned her freedom in 1971, Bangla mattered the most. The country was
named Bangladesh – the land where Bangla is spoken.The first constitution privileged Bangla as
the national language. Ironically, a country, whose pursuit of a separate nation-state was tied to
linguistic injustice, gave Bangla a hegemonic status to subsume other languages, including those
of the ethnic minority groups (Kirkpatrick, 2016, p. 30). English was the first to be guillotined.
During the Pakistan regime, English was the de facto second language for official correspond-
ence between the west and the east wings. In Bangladesh, the nationalistic zeal got English
decommissioned as a foreign language. The first Bangladesh Education Commission in 1974
ascribed English as a foreign language and recommended teaching the language from Class 6.
The Taskforce in 1976 relaxed it slightly stating that English could be taught either in Class 3 or
in Class 6, subject to the availability of teachers (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014, p. 10). The conditional
clause underlined here indicates the lack of infrastructure in a war-ravaged country.
The demand for Bangla in all spheres marginalised the English-medium schools, attended
mostly by the upper middle class. English was deemed as elitist and frowned upon in a country
that had socialism as a founding principle. The necessity of English was felt once the labour
market opened up for Bangladeshi migrant workers in the 1980s. However, the absence of
national patronage dented the standard of English, pointed out by many government reports.
The successive military governments did not want to open the language can-of-worms, allowing
the situation to deteriorate further. In one populist move, General Ershad withdrew the com-
pulsory English paper from the degree examination. This appealed to the rural students who
supposedly had no utility of English in their everyday-life or workplace, and considered passing
the subject as their biggest exam hurdle. After President Ershad was deposed, the new demo-
cratic government in 1991 made English a compulsory subject from Class 1. The development
partners worked in tandem with the Ministry of Education to conduct various needs ana-
lysis. By 2000, English-medium schools received official recognition. The National Education
Policy, 2000 underscored the need for English as medium of instruction at the tertiary level
(Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014, p. 10).
Soon after, access to English education increased manifold, and the country became a huge
market for English “with over 30 million students learning English as a compulsory subject
from Grade 1 in the different streams of pre-tertiary education, Bangladesh has one of the lar-
gest English learning populations in the world” (Kirkpatrick, 2016, p. 32). However, the quantity
belies the quality. Most of the students in the Bangla-medium schools or Madrasa Boards follow
the textbooks prepared by the NCTB and are taught by teachers with inadequate training and
proficiency.The English-medium schools, in contrast, follow the Cambridge or IB (International
Baccalaureate) curricula. Given the relatively privileged urban background, the students have
more access to the use of English in social settings. With little or no encouragement, the profi-
ciency level among the Madrasa students is the most disappointing. Many students of English-
medium schools have been high performers in their O’ and A’ level exams; for example, a total
of 48 students earned the prestigious ‘Top in the World’ awards from Cambridge Assessment
International Education for their exceptional performances in June 2018 (Dhaka Tribune,
8 December 2018). However, English-medium schools are located mostly in the capital with few
others in Chittagong, Sylhet, and Narayanganj, and the quality of these schools remains ques-
tionable to say the least.3
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Shamsad Mortuza
As for the mainstream Bangla-medium system, a DFID (Department for International

Development) funded English in Action (EIA) baseline survey (2009) failed to find any notice-
able proof of English language progression through primary and secondary school as the majority
of students remained at the most basic ability levels year after year (in Kirkpatrick, 2016, p. 33).
The situation is even worse in rural areas when many teachers are “teaching students at higher
levels than their own ability in the language”. In fact, “not a single Grade 10 student in a cohort
of 14 students interviewed was able to introduce themselves properly after 10 years of study of
English” (Kirkpatrick, 2016, p. 33).
Learning a foreign language is a complex issue involving multiple stakeholders, including
the government. Without a consistent education policy, the overall standard of English cannot
be improved. Chowdhury and Kabir (2014) have aptly maintained that the “‘friction between
Bengali and English’ had been detrimental to English teaching and learning” (p. 2). The spread
of English in an interlinked world is inevitable. It is the government’s duty to ensure educational,
economic, cultural, and political equity to address the educational challenges (teachers’ training,
national curriculum, testing, learning environment) and to identify the learners’ needs before
drafting a comprehensive policy that takes socio-economic, political, educational, and linguistic
contexts into cognizance (Kirkpatrick, 2016, p. 2).
Conversely, we also need to understand that a language policy is a social construct with pol-
itical implications. The policy is tied with the government’s larger political, linguistic, and socio-
economic agenda (Kirkpatrick, 2016). The country has undergone many political changeovers
in the last 50 years. Each government has its own priorities and agenda. A total of seven edu-
cation policies have been adopted by different governments, each reflecting its own interest
(Chowdhury, 2018, p. 4). Indeed, “the political turmoil of the mid-1970s, followed by the mili-
tary coup of 1981 and a number of years of political repression, martial law, suppression of
democracy, political volatility and stagnancy, have marked frustrating disjuncture in any attempt
to produce a coherent, consistent and time-sensitive English language policy” (Chowdhury &
Kabir, 2014, p. 3). The current political stability and steady growth of national GDP allow the
government an opportunity to adopt a policy that will aid the county’s vision of becoming a
middle-income economy.
The success stories of some private English-medium schools suggest that there is a direct
connection between the resources available for learning and the learning outcome of a student.
In absence of a coherent language policy and the mechanism to implement, the Bangla-medium
and Madrasa students are failing to acquire similar efficiency. The inefficiency of the public
schooling system is hurting HE and, by extension, the country’s economy. Most of our main-
stream students enter the university without the necessary linguistic competency. They cannot
read the texts, understand the class lectures in English, or express their ideas in written and oral
modes. One research finds that the language skill level of our high school graduates who come
to the university is equivalent to the Class 7 level (Imam, 2005). I know of a visiting language
fellow at a private university who paired up first semester local students with Grade 4 students
in the United States for correspondence practice, claiming that both groups had similar linguistic
competency.
In 2014, the quality of English became national news when only 2 out of 1364 applicants got
the required marks to study English at DU. In the same year, 66% of students passed HSC with
GPA 5 – suggesting top scores even in English. The admission fiasco caused a huge uproar. The
education minister lashed out saying that DU was trying to tarnish the government’s image (The
Daily Star, 30 September 2014). Many critiqued the English department for setting very difficult
questions. One question-setter, Prof. Fakrul Alam, counter-argued that the questions were at par
with the standard expected of freshmen (in Chowdhury, Sarkar, Mojumder, & Roshid, 2018,
180
p. 243). The fiasco highlights two distinct issues: English departments are becoming alienated
from the lived reality and our schooling system is failing to make the students university-ready.
To help the students ease into the tertiary system, most private universities offer some
foundation courses on basic English. The government, through UGC, insists on having these
mandatory English courses. Mostly, young teachers, who have just graduated and are looking
for opportunities to go abroad for higher studies, teach these courses and their choice of
higher studies is ultimately linked with these courses and the availability of funds. In absence
of proper training and pedagogical orientation, these teachers fail to deliver and make any sig-
nificant change in freshman students. Many of these teachers have an ad hoc attitude towards
teaching as they prepare for going abroad. Depending on the research or funding scope, these
teachers switch their orientation. In many cases, literature teachers end up pursuing research
in relatively new programmes which will have no implication on the courses they will be
teaching back home. Similarly, many language teachers end up doing research in pioneering
fields that have little application in the country’s context. A mismatch between what a teacher
teaches and what she or he has an advanced degree on prevails. The English departments in
Bangladesh suffer from this academic mismatch, and the clarity of purpose ultimately affects
the academia. This confusion is often evident in a disciplinary mimicry in which our English
departments want to incorporate recent trends without actually being ready for them. To give
the devil its due, this is a worldwide phenomenon that has dented the reputation of English
Studies.
‘Zero at the bone’4

Marjorie Perloff (2011, p. 161) is one of the fiercest critics of “the political, cultural, economic,
postcolonial, and race-and-gender-studies mill” that English departments have become. She used
the program objectives of the University of South California to detail how her colleagues’ recent
scholarship and research are far removed from the undergraduate teaching that is mostly done by
teaching assistants and adjuncts (Perloff, 2011). Elsewhere, Perloff accused many of her colleagues
for producing scholarship without necessary credentials, making them susceptible to criticism.
“Whereas economists or physicists, geologists or climatologists, physicians or lawyers must master
a body of knowledge before they can even think of being licensed to practice”, she said, “we
literary scholars, it is tacitly assumed, have no definable expertise” (cited in Chace, 2009, p. 38).
Chace (2009) quotes Perloff to pronounce the death of a discipline. He, however, thinks that
the inflow of immigrant student population is changing the university landscape in the United
States, warranting a new kind of scholarship. Composition studies can offer the dying discipline a
lifeline (p. 37). This idea is fast gaining currency. Patricia Bizell (1994) noticed it while attending
the 1987 MLA conference ‘What is English?’ where Peter Elbow claimed a ‘remarkable con-
sensus’ on ‘the central business of English Studies’ (p. 164). Elbow’s ‘prescription’ for the English
departments includes:
Using language actively in a diversity of ways and settings – that is, not only classroom
as exercises for teachers but in a range of social settings…Reflecting on language use.
Turning back and self-consciously reflecting on how one has been using language –
examining these processes of talking, listening, and reading. …Trying to ensure that
this using and reflecting go on in conditions of both nourishment and challenge, that
is, conditions where teachers care about students themselves and what they actively
learn – not just about skills or scores or grades.
(Bizell, 1994, p. 164)
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Shamsad Mortuza
Elbow also believed that literature offers authentic reading materials. In Write with Elbow, he
adds, “You can’t make meaning unless you are writing or reading about something; practices are
always practices of a content” (Bizell, 1994, p. 166). In the ESL (English as a second language)
context, especially when it refers to the role of literature in language learning, the focus has been
on the ‘use’ rather than on the ‘study’ of literature. Literary texts are used as materials for learning
the language components.These are the debates that form the very basis of Composition Studies,
especially in the United States, which are being imported to our eco-system. For instance,
Shamsuzzaman (2017) maintains that “examining literary language has limited usefulness for
writing, because students do not write literature; they write about it or respond to it. This dis-
juncture between reading and writing compounds further when students discover that they read
discourse in aesthetic genre, but they are required to write in critical genre” (p. 38).
Shamsuzzaman (2017) seems convinced that what Composition Studies has done in the United
States can be replicated by the ELT programmes in Bangladesh. In a previous article he claimed
that “English literature in Bangladesh seems to have been relinquishing its influence because of
the emergence of ELT” (p. 40). His 2017 article offers a mediatory stance suggesting an increased
segment of composition in the English syllabi. Shamsuzzaman concedes, “When English litera-
ture loses steam in Bangladesh, Composition gains no ground”, asserting that ‘Literature, after all,
is composition’ (p. 40).
These arguments suggest a large-scale trivialisation of what we do in the English departments.
As a Lurie-like professor, these proposed repackaging of English studies sends a chill down the
spine. I can very well visualise my senior colleagues in the English departments returning from
their existential lectures on T.S. Eliot’s ‘Hollow Man’ to retire in the faculty lounge to have their
toast and tea, only to have a rude awakening to ‘the narrow fellow in the grass’ that made them
feel ‘zero at the bone’. Our old-school teachers are waking up to a new reality, and they react to
see a rebranded EIA.
English in (re)action
As a Commonwealth country, the United Kingdom has been the study-destination for many
Bangladeshi scholars. It is usually the scholarships administered by the overseas cultural front-
offices such as the British Council (BC) or the American Centre that created this institutionalised
cultural capital of our English professors.
Established in the 1950s in a plot of land given to them by DU, the BC has been the hotbed of
many intellectual and cultural events.The policy of the Council to foster British culture changed
once Margaret Thatcher came to power. Under her neo-liberal policy, Arts Council was forced
to withdraw many of its cultural facets. Roger Bowers, a BC senior officer, has no inhibition
in saying, “we have … a vested interest in maintaining the roles of English as a language, and of
British ELT as a trade and a profession” (Kachru, 1976, p. 100)
In Linguistic Imperialism, Phillipson (1992) cites a similar claim by another BC director: “Our
language is our greatest asset, greater than North Sea Oil, and the supply is inexhaustible; fur-
thermore, while we do not have a monopoly, our particular brand remains highly sought after …
those who guide the fortunes of this country share my conviction in the need to invest in, and
exploit to the full, this invisible, God-given asset” (pp. 144–145).
Accordingly, the UK government has made some ‘strategic investments’ worldwide
(Kirkpatrick, 2016, p. 4). DFID’s 50-million-pound aid under EIA is no coincidence. The supply
of fund turned our ELT teachers and students into ‘warriors coming out of sown dragon teeth’ in
Greek mythology. The project involving Open University (UK) and BBC intended to empower
30 million people with English in 9 years. EIA website claimed reaching 44 million users through
182
BBC Janala. Mobile phones were used to help 25 million Bangladeshis to ‘improve their English
as a route into work and out of poverty’ (www.eiabd.com).With the abundance of so many open
learning sources, one wonders, why would the government employ overseas experts spending
50 million GBP to promote everyday English? The suspicion prompts Fakrul Alam to label
this venture as new-imperialism and admonish BC for being a surrogate East India Company
(Chowdhury et al., 2018, p. 248).
A cursory look at the BC, Dhaka, website confirms Alam’s allegation. The landing page offers
a collage of ads for language teaching, testing, training, certification, and products. The needle of
BC’s agenda – the exchange of ‘friendly knowledge’ between the countries – is lost in the ‘for
sale’ haystack (britishcouncil.org). Evidently, the ‘strategic investments’ are yielding dividends.
BC administers IELTS exams for overseas studies or immigration; offers corporate staff training;
and monitors test centres for all Cambridge exams. But is it legal for foreign envoys to run
businesses? Surely, our bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom must allow our High
Commission in London to run similar language programmes in Bangla? That would be one way
to export manpower abroad and create a market for standard Bangla. The web fine print, how-
ever, make these actions legitimate as BC wishes: “to develop English language skills through
direct teaching, digital products, administering exams, and developing teachers of English”
(britishcouncil.org.bd).
In paper, BC acts as a development partner to assist the Ministry of Education in its ‘sec-
ondary school reform’ plan. EIA is one project that required many native Man-Fridays, creating
a need for local ELT experts. The rehashing of the textbooks bulldozed all literary pieces and
introduced conversational passages. Grammar items taught under the GTM were abandoned to
focus on applied language usage. The search for contemporary authentic texts turned NCTB
textbooks into a patchwork of newspaper articles and web-pieces. In my view, some literary
pieces in English for Today (XI and XII) textbook in 2015 were half-heartedly done. The text-
book breaks away from its previous series and exists in isolation failing to give students enough
contextual support. The literary pieces appeared to have irked the CLT camp. While literature
professors struggle to dumb down ‘No fear Shakespeare’ in their classrooms, ELT teachers start
brandishing ‘Who needs Shakespeare?’ The chasm between the language and literature teachers
widens.5
True, the funds from donor agencies have given confidence to many non-native users. But
the funds were not enough to sustain the learning process of learners, and whatever little success
EIA achieved perished soon after.The only way English-learning programmes can be sustainable
is through involving all stakeholders. Long-term dependency on overseas funds can never serve
the national interest. The scanty investments in education (in the 2% national budget range) can
never create a congenial learning environment.Without the investment, teachers will not receive
the payment they deserve, and without a clear policy on the English question, we will never have
the right teaching content and approaches.The government must realise that there is a direct link
between teachers’ skills and students’ learning. It will be false to assume that all English graduates
will end up as language teachers in the primary and secondary system. As educators, we also need
to ascertain the right balance between language and literature components in our English syllabi.
The friction between literary and literacy, between knowledge and skills, is both real and
manufactured. We are dealing with these issues because we have to deal with the by-products
of a faulty schooling system. At the tertiary level, we can always blame the supply chain, while
the job market acts as quality-check outlets to blame us for producing faulty products. English
departments cannot think that they exist in a vacuum. The encroachment of 4IR poses a new
challenge. The exponential growth in technology creates a new reality that requires realignment
of the language/literature question so that we are equipped for the future.
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Shamsad Mortuza
Digitisation: A saving grace

Let us then return to the basic question: why study English? There is a universal and a local
answer.The colonial gift of enlightenment philosophy has finished its shelf-life. In a postmodern,
post-truth milieu, ‘being human’ is bad Public Relations campaign. English departments cannot
claim to be the sole agency for everything that is human. The Venn diagram of English Studies
includes many specialised fields such as economics, social-sciences, physics, biology, and the-
ology. As Perloff cautioned, we must make our scholarships and their articulation credible.
Language is our tool, and a good manager does not quarrel with his tools. The 4IR offers
English Studies an opportunity to expand and make itself useful. For the IT-driven artificial
intelligence-oriented future, a combination of science and humanities is required. 4IR is sure
to change the ecology of HE. The Dean of Boston University, Frederick S. Pardee, tells us,
“Learners of all ages must meet the challenges of the automation economy with creativity and
curiosity. At the policy level [we must] adjust the learning environment in preparation for the
future” (Gleason, 2018, p. viii).
This is a clarion call for English as a branch of liberal arts. The inventor of Apple, Steve Jobs,
reiterated it shortly before his death in 2011, “It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not
enough. It [is] technology married with Liberal Arts, married with the Humanities, that yields us
the results that make our heart sing” (Gleason, 2018, p. 23).
This expansion of 4IR offers us an opportunity to broaden the scope of English Studies in
Bangladesh. Literature courses, as exponents of liberal arts, can make us alive to these changes.
Language courses, however, can incorporate multi-modal and discourse analysis as part of the
curricula to appreciate digital humanities. To give our students more familiar handles, more
culturally rooted texts and methods need to be included so that our students learn to identify
local contextual equivalence of the texts that they are dealing with. The main challenge is to
find local relevance for the Anglophone texts that dominate our curricula. Translation studies,
creative writing, digital media, and pedagogy are some of the avenues which can help English
Studies reshape itself. Those interested in teaching must go to appropriate pedagogical training
institutes.
In Bangladesh, we need an education policy with a holistic approach. Preparing a generation
with small talk as was done under EIA may give them menial jobs, but not the symbolic or cul-
tural capital required to thrive in a fast-changing world. Our only saving grace can come through
dissolving our differences by constantly listening to our stakeholders – students, guardians, and
employers – before making ourselves heard before the government.The future is a serious matter,
and it cannot be left to either the donors or the myopic policy-makers.
Notes
1 “England is sick, and … English literature must save it. The Churches having failed, and social remedies
being slow, English literature has now a triple function: still, to delight and instruct us, but also, to save
our souls and heal the State” (Eagleton, 2003, p. 20).
2 From the title of a Bob Dylan song.
3 Based on comments made by participants of three streams of education who took part in FGDs on
‘Evaluating English Language Teaching and Learning in Bangladesh’. Mortuza, Khan, Yasmin, and
Rahman (2018).
4 From Emily Dickinson’s poem ‘A Narrow Fellow in the Grass’.
5 See Fakrul Alam’s “Revisioning English Studies in Bangladesh in the Age of Globalisation and ELT” in
Chowdhury et al. (2018). Also, see the study on the ‘organised hypocrisy’ in EIA programme by a group
of Malaysian scholars. The research shows the lack of commitment, efficiency, and transparency which
affected the desired outcome of the project (Karim, Mohamed, Ismail, & Rahman, 2018).
184
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12
TOWARDS CRITICAL–
AFFECTIVE PEDAGOGY
Anglophone literatures in Bangladeshi
English language classrooms
Introduction
Contrary to a common assumption evident in Bangladesh, reading a train schedule in Bristol Temple
Meads, writing an essay on the European Renaissance for a history class in Melbourne, and conversing
with a foreign delegate in Dhaka are not the only things that a Bangladeshi learner learning English
will encounter in real life. Lived reality involves many more complex and much more challenging situ-
ations in which a learner must communicate more than expeditiously. Different learners learn English
for different purposes; however, every learner must need and, therefore, want to learn how to perform
English creatively and critically, for example, when they want to avoid altercation with an unreasonably
angered client, or need to empathise with a friend traumatised by sexual harassment, or have to prepare
an audiovisual online advertisement. Performing language is creative: We must recollect or innovate
words and expressions, say, to bring sense to an annoying client, to help a friend in distress, and to
formulate a catchy punch line for a display advert. Performing language is critical:We must choose the
most appropriate greetings to appease an angry client, we must refrain from blaming a ‘victim’ right
after a traumatic event, and we must be alert whether our ad’s funny punch offends any ethnic group.
A major means of experiencing life, creatively and critically, is doing literature, that is, reading, com-
posing, performing, listening to, and talking and writing about literature. Doing literature is creative
and visceral: We encounter, even live, simulated realities by activating our imagination, sensations, and
empathy. Often does literature and literary criticism demand engagement. Doing literature is critical
and cerebral: Our witnessing of fictional individuals encountering stark or fantastic reality occurs
through aesthetic distance, which gives us an omniscient hermeneutic status and mobilises us to analyse
and critique. Often does literature and literary criticism demand evaluation.Thus, Kazi Nazrul Islam’s
poem, ‘Manush’ [/ma:nuʃ/(human being)] shatters the façade of humanism, leaving space for correction
and enhanced communication, while Lady Macbeth’s persuasive speech that leads her husband to kill
King Duncan in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth samples the power of rhetoric. Incorporating literature
in the language class helps teachers mobilise learners to self-attain these two goals, that is, motivation
and competence required to make creative and critical use of language in real-life encounters.
This chapter takes into account the problems and potential of the use of Anglophone literatures,
that is, literatures in English and in English translation, in Bangladeshi English language classroom.
Let me clarify four terms in this statement. First, ‘Anglophone literatures’ designates a non-spatial
linguistic phenomenon that incorporates all English-language literatures (written, oral, audio,
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Anglophone literatures
graphic, virtual), either originally composed in English or translated into English from the other
languages. Second, ‘Bangladeshi’ here includes the varieties of language ethnicities in Bangladesh.
Third, ‘English’ here accommodates two approaches to English learning: English as a foreign
language (EFL) and English as a lingua franca (ELF). Fourth, ‘language classroom’ chiefly refers
to that in the country’s Bangla-medium schools and colleges with a particular focus on Class IX
(in school) and Class XI (in college), being the thresholds of SSC (Secondary School Certificate,
a completion exam of secondary education) and HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate, a public
exam taken by students of intermediate college) examinations respectively.
Regarding methodology, this is an engaged non-survey analytical research. Having a social
constructivist paradigm, this research is engaged as it takes into account the hierarchical demo-
graphic variables that impact upon the EFL/ELF learning. The research is premised upon non-
survey data, generated through materials evaluation and verbal interaction. Applying both the
external and the internal evaluation criteria (McDonough, Shaw, & Masuhara, 2013, pp. 53–60),
this chapter offers critical–functional reading of the objectives, materials, and communication and
language activities mentioned and presented in the latest editions of English for Today (henceforth
EfT), one for the Classes XI–X (revised edition 2017) (Haider et al., 2017) and the other for the
Classes XI–XII and Alim (first edition 2015, reprint 2018) (Alam et al., 2015), published by the
National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) of Bangladesh.The review is critical and func-
tional as it foregrounds the spatiotemporal underpinning of the literary texts and the functions (i.e.
students being enabled and mobilised to efficiently perform English in the relevant examinations
and real-life situations) that the literature materials and the related activities in the EfTs intend to
serve. Data stemmed also from my oral and online interaction with language teachers and learners
and my experience in teaching language at the primary and tertiary levels and in training English
teachers of different colleges under National University in Bangladesh. The findings, instead of
being represented and enumerated separately, are embedded in the discussion that follows.
The chapter reiterates that whatever the approach and method of teaching EFL be, the lan-
guage class looks for authentic material, that is, work that is “not fashioned for the specific pur-
pose of teaching a language” (Collie & Slater, 1987, p. 3), and literature is the sure winner in
the bid. Enduring and engaging, literature is instrumental in enriching learners’ language skills,
communication skills, literary skills, critical thinking skills, performance skills, and management
skills. However, the EfTs published in the first decade of the 21st century did not substantially
and efficiently explore this (un)common wealth. While the latest EfT editions (mentioned above)
are worth appreciation, the projected strategy (as specified in the EfT prefaces) has not reaped
the projected benefits. Addressing these and several other demographic variables (e.g. increasing
number of students, learners’ socio-cultural orientation, and access to technology), this chapter
explores the ways Anglophone literatures have been and can be productively treated to improve
Bangladeshi learners’ English skills.The exploration takes place in three phases.The first phase sets
the background. The second phase presents a short guide to the use of Anglophone literatures in
Bangladeshi language class. The third phase outlines critical–affective pedagogy, which, I contend,
is instrumental in generating language learners who, instead of demonising or deifying English, are
eager and able to use English critically, expeditiously, and feelingly.
Pre-exploring
This section uses the current climate in English education in Bangladesh as a platform to ini-
tiate discussion on critical–affective pedagogy. First, it offers external (e.g. claims made by the
author/publisher) and internal evaluation of the two recent editions of EfT and sketches out a
customised metacognitive approach to teaching–learning English in Bangladesh.
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Reviewing English for Today

The use of literature for language learning has a relatively short history in Bangladesh. In the
1990s, when I was a student in Notre Dame College, the English learning textbook EfT would
accommodate literary texts; however, rarely were the texts connected to substantial language
activity. At the beginning of the 21st century, during what we may call the ‘communicative turn’
in Bangladesh, the EfTs started to discount literature in English language teaching; soon it became
a tradition. Added to this was the increasing commercialisation of language learning (Alam, 2018).
It was in 2014, when only two out of nearly 1700 students who had taken the ‘Elective English
paper admission test’ met the minimum requirements to get admitted to the Department of
English at Dhaka University (Alam, 2018, p. 243), that the grim consequence of commercially
motivated and uncritical application of CLT was exposed. It was a sheer coincidence that the
very next year saw the publication of a revamped EfT for Classes XI–XII (HSC level) and Alim
(HSC equivalent in the Madrasah Education Board) that vigorously brought literature to the
fore and integrated literary study with language learning. Following this, the 2012 edition of
EfT for Classes IX–X was thoroughly ‘revised and re-edited’ in 2017 ‘to make it learner friendly’
(Saha, 2017, p. iii).
The 2017 edition of EfT for Classes IX and X has only one unit that makes space for lit-
erary texts. Well-intended but less-than-well executed, the first 13 units of the textbook offer
numerous non-literary items that have potential to considerably motivate learners to attain
‘competency in all four language skills’ (Saha, 2017, p. iii). However, it is only in the con-
cluding unit that some literary texts are chipped in and, unfortunately, in spite of representa-
tive sampling and proper sequencing, the texts and the activities are not challenging enough
to contribute to the cultural and cognitive maturity of the ‘newgen’ teenagers. For example,
the only story in the unit is an adapted version of Maria Edgeworth’s ‘The Purple Jar’, which,
in the name of simplifying, discounts literariness of the original text. Similar fate befalls ‘A
Pound of Flesh’, an uncomplicated narrative of a major portion of Shakespeare’s The Merchant
of Venice: Not only are the learners not introduced to dramatic form and theatre, there is no
substantial attempt to connect this classic literary piece to language activities and critical
thinking. The major problem of such huddling of literary texts in one single unit, and that at
the end of the book, explicitly alienates literature from other non-literary texts, fuelling the
myth that literature has little to do with ‘real life situations’ that the said textbook promises to
‘reflect’ (Saha, 2017, p. iii).
In contrast, the 2015 edition of EfT for Classes XI–XII and Alim is worth appreciation.
Among the 15 units 13 units sample literature of some kind: There are 12 poems including
translation of Jibanananda Das’ ‘Banglar Mookh’ [Bengals’ Face]; one lyrics from Shakespeare’s
As You Like It (however, no extract from any drama text); two short stories; an extract from
Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels; two literary-critical essays; a memoir; a Persian travelogue in
translation; and two speeches. The textbook is considerably effective for four reasons. First, the
language activities in varying degrees of success cover all language skills. Many literary texts offer
follow-up and extended activities, even soliciting students to make group presentations ‘in the
next class in English’ (2015, p. 113). At many points, the text informs learners of the resources
they may collect data from. Second, there are several activities that help develop literary compe-
tence (2015, pp. 25, 112–113, 197).Third, the textbook demands comparative reading four times
(2015, pp. 113, 114, 126–127, 181–182). And, fourth, there are activities that intend to encourage
creative writing.
However, my interaction with teachers and learners revealed that the strategy of integrating
literature with language learning has not attained the projected goal. Let me isolate three major
188
reasons. First, teachers and students are not properly aware of and, therefore, not interested in doing
literature for teaching–learning English. The creative writing projects and group assignments are
virtually non-existent in practice because of large class size and lack of motivation. Second, the
continuous assessment system rarely taps the in-house opportunity to maximise the use of litera-
ture in language teaching due partly to teachers’ lack of expertise and partly to the incompati-
bility of such exercises with the terminal examinations. Third, students are nominally motivated
to read the literary samples in the textbook. Since the creative questions (CQs) that carry a major
chunk of marks in the SSC and HSC examinations are not set from these sample texts, students
are not convinced of reading these texts let alone doing the extended activities.
Metacognitive approach to the use of literature for language learning

Doing Anglophone literatures becomes an effective means for learning English only when both
teachers and learners are aware of what literature is meant for, what it represents and how and
why, and what the use of doing Anglophone literatures is. A major step of attaining this goal is
to address and destabilise two existing myths about literature: first, literature is nothing but fic-
tional and, second, literary language has little to do with the language people actually encounter
in real life. Apropos of these contested yet popular myths, I contend that teaching of literatures in
English and teaching of English language must be inter-animating in Bangladesh. The most
effective way of effectuating the use of literature in language learning is developing metacogni-
tive approach. What it means is that planners, materials writers, teachers, and students have clear
and convinced understanding of the ways a literary text aids language acquisition. Metacognitive
strategies help learners attain substantial control over their cognition processing and study activ-
ities and, consequently, leave them proficient in using or innovating strategies for problem-
solving in the wider arena of life.
To corroborate the contention, let me list the ways literature may meet Bangladeshi language
learners’ needs and expectations and tally with their different socio-cultural orientations. Literature
(a) offers authentic material in the sense that it broaches ‘fundamental human issues’ and it (b) is ‘not
fashioned for the specific purpose of teaching a language’ (Collie & Slater, 1987, p. 3). Literature (c)
offers ‘motivating material’ (Lazar, 2009, p. 15) and (d) ensures socio-cultural enrichment, which is
particularly required in cross-lingual learning. Literature (e) activates ‘language acquisition’ (Collie
& Slater, 1987, p. 4). Confronting a text that is linguistically and culturally distanced from that of
one’s own but that promises to be exciting and relevant, a learner is likely to be mobilised to pro-
cess the language. Literature thus (f) ensures ‘language enrichment’ (Collie & Slater, 1987, p. 4) and
(g) helps learners refine soft communication skills. Literature also (h) mobilises production, ranging
from oral work to creative writing, and (i) helps learners develop performance skills. Literature (j)
mobilises interpretive faculty. Situated in a paradoxically shrinking and expanding world in this
age of globalisation and new media, young learners must command critical thinking skills to locate
and resist, say, racial underpinning even in the so-called children’s book, say, Edgar Rice Burroughs’
Tarzan of the Apes. Literature (k) encourages ‘personal involvement’ (Collie & Slater, 1987, p. 5) and
helps personal development (Lazar, 2009, p. 19). If properly graded and guided, one’s attempts at
making sense of a literary text in a non-native language is itself empowering.
While-exploring
Addressing the existing lacunae in teaching–learning English and the potential of metacogni-
tive approach to take care of the loopholes, this section offers a guide to the use of literatures in
English in Bangladeshi language class.
189
Which approaches and methods: Going creative

The EfTs ‘from class 6 onwards’ have adopted ‘communicative approach’ in teaching English
through ‘an interactive mode’ (Saha, 2015, p. iii). However, in this post-modern, post-human,
post-method era, adopting and prescribing one single approach and one single method is likely
to be inefficient. In this section, I propose that an informed eclectic approach will help formulate
critical–affective pedagogy, one that fosters creativity and criticality as well.
Task-based communicative approach

It accentuates two main goals of CLT, namely enabling learners to communicate in English
even when they have limited linguistic resource and enhancing learners’ communicative compe-
tence, because ‘tasks’ help negotiate and fine-tune learning difficulty for ‘particular pedagogical
purposes’ and provide ‘both input and output processing necessary for language acquisition’
(Richards & Rodgers, 2014, pp. 228–229). Since literature offers rich resource for triggering
varied ‘tasks’, the use of task-based method for the activities stemming from literature serves
two major purposes. First, it unfailingly connects language performance with literature, demon-
strating that literature is primarily a linguistic–semiotic venture and that communicative com-
petence involves no less imagination and creativity than literature. Second, task-based method
enables learners to acquire new linguistic knowledge and proceduralise the existing and newly
gained knowledge (Ellis, 2009). It is the non-linguistic outcome that gives the task-based method
its edge. However, the textbook or the teacher’s manual must suggest the ways the prescribed
tasks can be appropriated to suit demographic variables. Moreover, if the situation permits, the
tasks can involve participatory activities and simulation too. For example, A. G. Stock’s Memoirs
of Dacca [sic.] University, excerpted in the 2015 EfT, can be more productively used to offer a
plethora of tasks including going outing, transport management, hotel booking, and itinerary
formation. Task-based communicative method fosters creative and strategic thinking skills.
Translation–adaptation method
Learning a new language is a comparative business. On the one hand, it is additive: We add
alternatives to our mother-tongue repertoire. On the other, it is data-gathering: We learn
unacquainted materials. In both cases, learners compare what they knew and what is added.
Translation too is comparative. Since any linguistic transfer requires negotiation between the
socio-cultural dimensions of the two languages, translation facilitates learning a new language
with reference to one’s native language. Such an accommodative approach offsets linguistic
chauvinism and linguistic xenophobia and adds confidence to learners’ anxiety of learning a
‘stranger-language’.
Translating a literary text or a part of it, preferably the communicative events, if properly
graded and guided, is an effective language learning activity. Be it translating a text from English
into Bangla or vice versa, it benefits learners in two ways. First, translation of a passage or a
text involves close reading and comparative study between the source and the target languages.
Comparative close reading and ‘writerly’ commitment that translation demands correspond to
all the three principles of teaching SL/FL, namely cognitive, social, and linguistic principles.
Second, translation of a literary passage or a text is imaginative and creative, not simply some
second-hand parasitic business. The materials writers, teachers, and learners must understand
that every translation is re-writing (linguistic, semiotic) and re-organising (structural, semantic),
even re-thematising (contextuality, contingency) of the original text. However, acknowledging
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the complicated sociolinguistic business of translation, let me add two disclaimers. First, transla-
tion here means that of a passage or a text, not a set of decontextualised independent sentences.
Second, translation activity must be introduced at the primary level, but not translation of literary
texts.Tapping insights from the ‘stratification model’ of translation (Munday, 2016; Snell-Hornby,
1995) that roughly differentiates Level A (e.g. literary and general knowledge translation) from
Level B (e.g. literary translation of poetry and light fiction and that of newspaper and adverts), I
contend that translating literary texts or extracts should not appear before Class IX.
Adaptation, meaning in this chapter a form of intra-language translation, is also useful in
language learning. It can productively resolve the linguistic problems caused by the temporal
distance between a classic and a present-day learner; for example, in advanced classes, learners
can be asked to convert a portion of, say, Macbeth, composed in Shakespearean English, into the
contemporary one. Adaptation can also help locate the degree of differences between standard
English and the non-standard and the dialect. Being linguistically demanding and ideologically
challenging, this activity should appear in Class XI, and the EfTs must provide step-by-step
guideline for learners in the textbook and for teachers in the teacher manuals. In both cases, that
is, translating and adapting, learners must be mobilised to produce their own English.
Creative–expressive method
Creativity is a process of bringing imagination and new ideas into reality. The process involves
making new connections between different regions of the brain and it occurs when we are
exposed to new experience and want to make sense of it. Creative writing, a significant produce of
creativity, is a formalist aesthetic means through which the authors project and communicate
their thoughts and feelings to the readers who are likely to find pleasure and purpose in the
communication. Since it demands both language and literary competencies, activates intelligence
and imagination, and involves ethics and expressivity, creative writing is an effective means of
developing language skills and, referring to wider educational function, effectuating maturity
and healing as well. Creative–expressive method for language learning is premised upon three
notions: First, performing communication involves creativity; second, creative writing samples
how language and other signs can be creatively modulated to meet the intended goal; and third,
viewed through a cosmopolitan lens, creativity involves inspiration, intelligence, affect, and ethics.
The major thrust of this method is that during creative writing activities, learners are relatively
autonomous to convey their ideas and feelings in English.
Which Englishes: Exploring the un/common wealth

The impact of the ‘Rule’ of ‘Britannia!’ is not only that English has become world’s lingua franca
but also that there is no more one English; there are Englishes … ‘British’, ‘American’, ‘Australian’,
Caribbean ‘creole’, ‘Hinglish’ (Indian macaronic), ‘Singlish’ (Singaporean patwa), and so on. Then
there are Anglophone dialects, loan words, and translanguaging. Added to this is the incorporation
of non-English indigenous words in, say, Nigerian Anglophone writings. Encountering such
variety, which English/es should we choose for our ELT textbooks? The readymade answer is
standard ‘English’ English.The choice is realistic and feasible.The problem is we have overlooked
some of its problems. First, the English/es that many Bangladeshi learners are exposed to, for
example, through Facebook and Game of Thrones, come from various nationalities and are sig-
nificantly different from the ‘English’ English. Second, the English/es that Anglophone literatures
sample often deviate from the textbook English. Third, if all literary texts sampled in a textbook
are composed in standard ‘English’ English, it represents a partial, hierarchical, and exclusivist,
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sometimes Orientalist, version of the language and the reality. Therefore, the EfTs must attempt
the ELF approach to teaching–learning English as a ‘foreign’ language and must maximise the
scope for sampling ‘other’ and new Englishes, the ones that rule out the traumatic Rule of one!
Temporality: Linguistic contemporaneity

In our bid of teaching communicable English, let us not over-use the Englishes that are not mani-
fest in everyday use. Since Bangladeshi students at the secondary and higher-secondary levels
often struggle with, say, Shakespearean English, and since reading a re-told (linguistically sim-
plified) Shakespeare has little to do with language learning, choice of a Shakespeare has to be
informed. The EfTs must avoid retold versions of the classics, instead introduce selected ‘original’
texts that are linguistically less challenging and pseudo-contemporaneous (temporally distanced
yet compatible with the contemporary styles). An increased sampling of contemporary literature
is another good option. Referencing the Dylan Thomas prize module introduced at Swansea
University in Wales, I contend that sampling of hyper-contemporary works of fiction, for example,
extracts from Arif Anwar’s The Storm (2018), in the advanced classes will not only leave youngsters
abreast with the new literary, linguistic, and thematic trends but also help decolonise pedagogy.
Spatiality: Decolonised pedagogy

Teaching–learning English through literatures in English must take into consideration the two-
pronged danger of colonisation, that is, explicitly or implicitly manifested Orientalism and
supremacist Eurocentrism in the language and thematisation of our choice literary texts. It, however,
does not mean that Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice cannot be excerpted – escapism rarely
saves; rather it means that such sampling must invite students to invest critical thinking in, say,
evaluating Shakespeare’s representation of Shylock the Jew against a rampant anti-Semitic culture.
Decolonising English pedagogy is of paramount importance, especially in a country that was
once a ‘British’ colony, now a part of the weirdly worded ‘Commonwealth’, and is often prone to
deify the West. The first step towards decolonising (and de-Westernising) is considering spatially
English literature (that from England) as a ‘world literature’.The next step is increasing our access
into Anglophone ‘literatures’, a non-spatial linguistic phenomenon that incorporates all English-
language writings. Thus, increased and carefully made entry of, for example, an Indian play-
wright, an Irish poet, and a Nigerian novelist in the EfTs will introduce students to the varieties
of English in use as well as develop decolonial mode of critical aptitude. I strongly second Alam’s
call for incorporating ‘postcolonial literature in ELT’ (2007). Let me add that increased sampling
of Bangladeshi and diasporic writers’ Anglophone writings is likely to introduce learners to two
kinds of insight: How Bangladeshi individuals represent the world in a non-native language and
how English takes different forms to fit in non-English expressions. This is bound to add confi-
dence and resource to the Bangladeshi learners’ social and linguistic repertoire.
Translation: Interlingual transaction

Translation is a complicated phenomenon. However, if properly resourced, it is useful for language
learning for two reasons. First, translation of a text in one’s mother tongue into English offers ample
scope for studying, through comparison, how two languages in spite of phonological constraints
and syntactic variations interact, which not only strengthens learners’ command of English but also
activates their perceptions of cross-lingual mutuality and transaction. Second, English translation of
a text composed in some third language (e.g. Arabic or Spanish) not only gives Bangladeshi learners
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exposure to other cultures but also consolidates the importance of learning languages for broader
worldview and greater opportunities. I appreciate the sampling of translation of Bangla and Persian
literatures in the 2015 EfT; however, I propose that the English translation of Bangladeshi non-
Bangla writings, for example, Chakma poetry and Marma folktale, be incorporated. Appropriating
Flore’s contention that incorporation of largely ignored social issues in liberal pedagogy can help
reduce further incidents of violent extremism (2017, p. 77), I contend that critical–affective sam-
pling in the EfTs of Bangladeshi non-Bangla literatures can help de-exoticise Bangladeshi ‘indi-
genous’ population and cultures and mobilise youngsters towards more tolerant, accommodative,
and polysemic worldviews. More importantly, such sampling will more efficiently conform to ‘the
aims and objectives of National Education Policy 2010’ that intends to ensure ‘equal dignity for all
irrespective of caste and creed of different religions and sex’ (Saha, 2017, p. iii).
Which genres: Here is God’s plenty

Each member of the generic triad – drama, poetry, and prose – must be sampled at every level
of language learning. First, the textbooks must represent drama as a writerly (drama), a collab-
orative fine art (play, theatre), and a performing art (theatre, performance) genre. For example,
to address drama’s writerly aspect, short radio plays can be sampled. Extended activities may
include mobilising students to read or perform select extracts, to understand the transformative
and emancipatory power of role-playing, to evaluate characters’ use of rhetoric for their own
benefit, and to observe how individuals survive or succumb to stress. Second, the textbooks must
sample the major genres of poetry including the ones that have non-European origins but have
been attempted by the English-speaking writers (e.g. Richard Wright’s haikus). A delectable
serving of song (e.g. from Shakespeare’s plays) and lyrics (e.g. Bob Dylan’s) not only helps learners
connect with the lived reality but also encourages creativity. Third, textbooks must offer a range
of literary non-fictional prose including travel writing, auto/biography, memoir, and speech. Fourth,
textbooks must sample short stories and extracts from novels. The inclusion of flash fiction can be
very effective as it introduces students to the recent world trend and, due to extreme brevity,
encourages reading and creativity. Fifth, comics and graphic novels must be excerpted, not only
because youngsters find them contemporary and attractive but also because they work on the
visual, auditory, and tactile dimensions of our senses, thus activating multiple channels through
which we communicate. In order to help teachers who may not have exposure to teaching
graphic novels, reading materials can be limited but well-chosen and must be accompanied by
clearly defined objectives and effective guideline.
Which skills: Knowing is doing

It is imperative that the EfTs add three micro-skills or sub-skills (vocabulary, pronunciation, and
grammar) to the four macro-skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) that they claim to
cover (Saha, 2015, p. iii; Saha, 2017, p. iii). Each of the seven subsections that follow highlights the
integration of literature with language learning and insists on the activation of metacognition and
creativity for performing English.
Listening
Listening is a receptive skill, but it is at the same time a constructive, collaborative, and transforma-
tive skill. The EfTs that claim to enhance learners’ listening skills pay insufficient attention to
the nuances of listening; for example, they rarely mention what the role of the listener-learner
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is (overhearer, or participant), the differences between comprehension and retention during

listening, the amount of response a listening demands, and the connection between listening to
English and learning English. I propose that the EfTs offer graded listening activities that sample
the (i) mutuality aspect, (ii) rhetorical aspect, and (iii) functionality aspect of listening.
Speaking
Speaking is a complex cognitive human skill, involving verbal skills, non-verbal skills, and listening.
The existing EfTs intend to enhance learners’ speaking skills, but the instructions rarely clarify the
mode of speaking each activity requires (e.g. transaction, or interaction), the precise distinction
between, say, formal and semi-formal levels, and the process of an effective presentation. Since
simply asking students to present their findings before the class makes little impact, I propose that
the EfTs offer graded and guided if not controlled speaking activities that sample these three major
phenomena: (i) clarifying the functions of each speaking task, (ii) explicitly stating the level of for-
mality involved, and (iii) foregrounding the reciprocal and performative aspects of speaking.
Reading
Reading is more than a passive receptive skill. Reading is performative and interactive, and
learning reading is most effective when the act of reading is metacognitive.The reading materials
in the EfTs are meant to enhance learners’ reading skills, but the instructions do not always expli-
citly tell learners which purpose will be served by a particular reading activity and which specific
skills and strategies are required to meet that purpose. Therefore, I propose that our EfTs offer
graded reading activities with clear and detailed instruction that explains and exemplifies which
of the four major reading purposes (Grabe & Stoller, 2011) a text serves: (i) reading for collecting
information and learning, (ii) reading for integrating information and writing, (iii) reading for
interpreting and critiquing, and (iv) reading for comprehension.
Writing
Writing is a complex production skill of meaning-making, involving verbal skills, visual skills, and
reading. Unlike common perceptions, writing is both a linguistic venture and a socio-cultural
practice. The EfTs claim that the writing activities will enhance learners’ writing skills, but rarely
clarify, say, how a descriptive paragraph is different from a narrative one, how to plan an organised
essay, and how to write an academic essay in the final examinations. Simply asking students to
write an essay after reading a sample essay has not worked and will not work.Therefore, I propose
that our EfTs offer graded writing activities that sample three major forms: (i) impressionistic
writing, (ii) academic writing, and (iii) creative writing.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary, a writing micro-skill (Brown, 2007, p. 399), is the stock of words that a language
learner is required to tap and master for communication. The EfTs must set vocabulary man-
agement as one of its seven major goals.Vocabulary lessons must be well-planned and feasible so
that learners do not simply memorise meanings, instead they are mobilised to actively partici-
pate in making sense of foreign words for communication. I propose that the EfTs offer graded
and relevant vocabulary activities, animated through varied language experiences that accom-
modate these three major aspects (Graves, August, & Mancilla-Martinez, 2013) of vocabulary
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learning: (i) making sense of individual words, (ii) practicing word-learning strategies, and (iii)
developing word-consciousness – a metacognitive inquisitiveness.
Pronunciation
Pronunciation, a speaking micro-skill (Gao & Bartlett, 2014, p. 20), is the way a word in a
language is uttered. Pronunciation involves several segmental and suprasegmental features (e.g.
phonological conditioning) that render teaching–learning ESL/EFL pronunciation challenging.
The EfTs must set English pronunciation management as one of its seven major goals and try two
recent approaches to teaching–learning pronunciation: ELF and native ELF (Szpyra-Kozɫowska,
2015). Since English pronunciation lessons must take into account phonological constraints,
teacher-trainers’ expertise, and learners’ perception, I propose that the EfTs offer graded and
guided pronunciation activities that sample these four major components of pronunciation of
English: (i) phonemes, (ii) syllables and words, (iii) sentences and utterances, and (iv) production
and reception mechanisms. Learners must understand that they practice pronunciation to ensure
intelligibility and comprehensibility during speaking and listening as well.
Grammar
For Larsen-Freeman (2001), grammar is ‘a skill to be mastered, rather than a set of rules to be
memorized’; therefore, grammar, or, more precisely, ‘grammaring’ – the ability to use ‘grammat-
ical structures accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately’ (p. 255) – deserves sufficient attention.
The EfTs must set grammar as one of its seven major goals. Literature is often deemed a risky
choice for learning grammar as, for example, it often violates practical language; however, due
to the very same reason, it is a rich resource for learning actual grammar: There are discrepancies
between what the grammar books tell us and what the native speakers actually say. Since litera-
ture offers a substantial storehouse of authentic English and since literary texts in the EfTs are
not fittingly integrated with grammar exercises, I propose that the textbooks offer graded and
informed grammar activities that cover these three major aspects (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988,
pp. 8–11) of grammar: (i) linguistic factors, (ii) discourse factors, and (iii) social factors.
Which techniques: Teaching before testing

The choice of literary texts for language learning must consider the range of language skills
that the language textbook intends to cover and the potential language activities that the select
literary texts may trigger. Two factors that the EfTs tend to overlook are, paradoxically, cru-
cial for formulating techniques of teaching–learning. The first one is the demographic variables
(e.g. class size, access to technology, communication skills in one’s mother tongue, degree of
urbanity, attitudes to sex and ethnicity, degree of religiousness, and sociolinguistic orientation)
that significantly impact upon the use of literature in a language classroom. The second factor is
compatibilising the learning materials in EfT with the testing and assessment systems in the year-
final and the terminal examinations. My interaction with language teachers and learners revealed
that EfT has failed to inform let alone convince teachers–learners that the activities therein, if
properly executed, will provide learners with problem-solving strategies and, thus, enable them
to attend to the ‘unseen’ tasks in the examinations and beyond, that is, in real life.
Against this scenario, I propose that instruction for every language activity stemming from
a literary text must contain all or most of the following: (i) specifying the goals and rationale
of the tasks, (ii) explicitly stating and exemplifying the required (metacognitive) strategies,
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(iii) demonstrating why and how mastering the strategy can benefit learners in real-life com-
munication, (iv) proposing extended activities (e.g. creative writing and performing a play),
(v) separating ‘exercise’ from ‘test’, (vi) specifying how the tasks in EfT are compatible with the
test materials in the terminal examinations, (vi) providing (in appendix) ‘suggested’ answers or
clues for self-assessment, and (vii) foregrounding learner autonomy and responsibility in performing
English.The projected results include interest in literature and English textbooks increased, inde-
pendent language skills in English developed, memorisation culture minimised, understanding of
plagiarism developed, anxiety of CQs at the SSC and HSC examinations offset, question-leaking
business ruined, and coaching-centre dependency decreased.
Listening
Listening exercises must meet the limitations that a language class in Bangladesh may pose. It is not
the lack of electronic materials or students’ lack of exposure to listening to English that constitutes
the major drawback in listening, because students now have increased individual access to the
new media. The major problems are what we often overlook. The first problem is: We rarely assess
where lies a listener-learner’s problem with listening – in listening as an activity, or in listening to
English? Therefore, ESL/EFL listening activities must be preceded and complemented by listening
to one’s mother tongue. Compatibilising the EfTs and the Amar Bois (Bangla textbooks published
by NCTB) may resolve this problem.The second issue is we practice little more than listening-for-
comprehension. Rarely do we focus on note-taking.Teachers expect that students take class notes
but offer no or insufficient guidance. Since academic activities including listening to class lectures
and conference talks necessitate taking and making use of notes, listening activities in the EfTs
must incorporate carefully graded and properly guided step-by-step exposure to the three-prong
process of note-taking: pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening (e.g. converting notes into
a coherent write-up). The third problem is we rarely concentrate on listening strategies. A meta-
cognitive approach to listening asserts that successful listening much relies on listeners’ awareness
of the strategies they chose to use during a particular task of listening. Accordingly, when learners
are listening to the narrator of Frost’s ‘Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening’, they have to
be aware that they are chiefly employing bottom-up processing, that is, using input for compre-
hension recognising, which is different from top-down processing.
Speaking
I wonder how we expect it to work when Bangladeshi students are asked to ‘do some group dis-
cussion in English’ in a non-English or non-simulated environment with friends who are prob-
ably equally intimidated by English. Speaking exercises must meet the demographic limitations,
including culturally contingent mode of talking, culture-oriented topic choice, teachers’ lack
of training and expertise, and students’ lack of exposure to speaking in English. The planning of
EFL/ELF speaking activities in the class and textbooks must broach in graded variance five
speaking competencies: verbal competence (e.g. lexical accuracy), discourse competence (e.g. organ-
isation, cohesion), illocutionary competence (e.g. fluency, reciprocity), sociolinguistic competence (e.g.
socio-cultural adequacy, topic choice), and strategic competence (e.g. facilitation, compensation,
turn-taking) (Martinez-Flor & Usó-Juan, 2006). I propose that speaking activities in the EfTs
make it explicit that speaking is more than spoken version of written language, that it involves
non-verbal and paralinguistic features, and that it may accommodate one’s mother tongue
(e.g. code-switching), which is likely to minimise the fear of speaking in a non-native tongue,
encourage speaker-learners to practice in speaking English, and manage speech events effectively.
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This pedagogical move must be complemented by two ancillary projects. First, every school
and college must install language labs to house books, records, technological aids, and oral exer-
cise materials to encourage individual and group use. Also, generating simulated situation in the
classroom and sending students to speaking tours (e.g. meeting English teachers in another school
or meeting the college alumni who are well-established and can speak in English) are likely to
work. Second, textbooks and classroom-speaking activities must be compatible with the tests that
the speaker-learners encounter during continuous assessment and the terminal examinations.
Actual oral examinations can be reserved for in-house examinations only; however, execution of
such examinations requires trained teachers and suitable ambiance that the state and the educa-
tional institutions should provide. Insights can be culled from the age-long tradition of lab-work
and lab-viva conducted for the science courses. For the SSC and HSC examinations (which are
chiefly writing-oriented), Rivers and Temperley’s skills learning framework (1978, p. 4) can be
effectively employed. Differentiating skill-getting from skill-using, Rivers and Temperley propose
a three-phase practice of speaking – cognition, production, and interaction – that can be effect-
ively used for written examinations.
Reading
Reading is a reader’s conversation with the author of the text, a performative act that negotiates
between the text-based bottom-up processing and the schema-based top-down processing.
Meanings of a text, therefore, cannot be always and necessarily reduced into MCQ (Multiple
Choice Questions) phenomena nor can be obviously determined by the author or materials
writer. Moreover, efficient reading involves metacognition, that is, the readers knowing and
monitoring the reading strategies they are using to attend to the meaning-making task. I propose
that reading activities in the EfTs make it explicit that reading is an interactive business, which
is likely to develop student-readers’ language processing aptitude, provide them with reading
autonomy, and, thus, re-organise their practice of freedom. It is imperative that reading curric-
ulum in Bangladesh specifies ‘developing metacognitive awareness’ (Silberstein, 1994, p. 9) as its
chief goal and that our textbooks reflect the same spirit.
The materials writers, teachers, and reader-learners must know and are able to apply the ways
we process information during reading, that is, the ‘lower-level processes’ (e.g. word recognition
and syntactic parsing) and the ‘higher-level processes’ (e.g. comprehension, interpretation, and
inferencing) (Grabe & Stoller, 2011). Students may not need to know the jargon but they must
be aware of the nature, gradation, and sequencing of reading strategies.
Writing
Since writing is both an individual and a socio-cultural produce, writer-learners must be aware
of the three main dimensions of writing: the code, the encoder, and the decoder. A learner must
know that their writing is an organised product that readers will read and that it is not only words
that make sense, rather it is a discursive network that generates meanings. Writing activities and
the corresponding instruction in the EfTs must mobilise students to underscore these socio-
cultural phenomena.
Literature is an exquisite space that invokes curious interaction between rhetoric, writer, and
reader. I, therefore, propose that creative writing is made an indispensable part of teaching writing
in English. However, the EfTs must offer self-help guidance for writer-learners. For example, it
should be graded; let them first try non-fiction prose, for example, travelogue. The textbook must
offer a couple of travel writings for reading, help writer-learners understand the difference between
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outdoor travel writing and tour guide, help them mark the language and the rhetorical and dis-
cursive elements in travel writing, and guide the writer-learner’s writing. Since creative writing
involves language and literary competence, such activities should be introduced in Class IX; there-
fore, increasing exposure to literature and literary techniques must start at the primary level.
Advancement in Applied Linguistics research on contrastive rhetoric has demonstrated that
“discourse moves in written text are culturally determined within the paradigms of various
rhetorical traditions” (Hinkel, 2014, p. 5). Addressing this phenomenon is crucial when a writer
writes an essay in second language which may belong to a different rhetoric paradigm.Therefore,
it is imperative that we in Bangladesh unambiguously state the objectives of teaching writing
in English: Is it writing in general, or writing to help students learn English better? If the
primary focus is on the second, it is important to underscore the compatibility and tension
between writing in Bangla (the dominant rhetoric tradition in Bangladesh) and that in EFL/ELF,
which will help us locate what makes an English writing effective. Let me highlight three
points. First, a writer’s attitude to a particular phenomenon (e.g. parents) is determined by socio-
cultural orientations (Hinkel, 2014, pp. 161–242). All pre-, while-, and post-writing activities and
assessment and evaluation of writing must address these issues. Second, English writing is cultur-
ally structure-bound. Writing an essay in English without organisation can be a ‘very un-English
text’ (Raimes, 1983, p. 116). Therefore, simply asking Bangladeshi students to write an essay in
English but offering no guidance, due often to the assumption that they know how to write a
structured essay, does not make sense. The writing instruction must supply step-by-step analysis
of an essay, guided samples, and guided exercise of the type of essay the students are going to
write.Third, writer-learners must be able to differentiate academic writing from, say, impression-
istic writing and Facebook status.
Vocabulary
Teaching, learning, and testing vocabulary often centre round memorising or knowing the
meanings or synonyms or antonyms of a word. Rarely do our materials writers and teachers
acknowledge and tap the adventures that making sense of an unknown word or finding for the
most appropriate words entail. Since vocabulary informs both receptive and productive skills,
vocabulary pedagogy must involve two goals: (1) Making sense of English words during reading
and listening and (2) motivating learners to explore, even innovate, words during speaking and
writing.The main aim is to encourage learners to become responsible and relatively independent
in their adventures to explore the big English mine!
Pronunciation
When Emma Watson announced, ‘I’m /hər’maɪ.əni/ Granger’ before a roomful of Irish children,
it caught the kids surprised who had been certain until then that the girl they met in the Harry
Potter book series is ‘Her-my-own’ (Halton, 2015, n.p.). This example foregrounds two issues
relevant for pronunciation learning: First, pronouncing a proper noun can be little to do with its
spelling or phonological conditioning and, second, one must be ready for translingual encounter
during pronunciation. But, how perfect does learners’ pronunciation need to be? The answer
is let us ensure comprehensibility and comfortable intelligibility (Lane, 2010, pp. 2–4; Szpyra-
Kozɫowska, 2015, p. 69). Native-speaker pronunciation is not desirable and rarely achievable.
Therefore, for Hewings, the goal of English pronunciation lesson should be to attain pronun-
ciation that is usually understandable in interlingual and international communication but may
even retain unobtrusive features of a non-English accent (2008, pp. 13–14). This agenda makes
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sense in the context of Bangladesh. It is good that our EfTs employ intuitive–imitative approach,
that is, enhancing learners’ ability to notice phonetic features and imitate the same, but my inter-
action with language teachers and students revealed that it remains virtually ineffective due to
the lack of authentic materials, uncertain access to the new media, and teachers-trainers’ lack
of expertise or interest. I propose that analytic–linguistic approach is appended, preferably since
Class IX, so that learners will be able to deliberately use phonetic tools, for example, articulatory
description of sound and IPA, during listening to and producing pronunciation of English.
Grammar
Different learners have different ways of processing information – some are ‘rule learners’ who
learn by ‘exposure to large chunks of language in meaningful contexts’ and some ‘data gatherers’
who ‘extract paradigms and rules from examples’ (Celce-Murcia & Hilles, 1988, p. 5). Therefore,
teaching–learning grammar must accommodate holistic method, analytical–communicative
method, and creative method. Such eclecticity also helps adding auditory input (e.g. learning
by listening as proposed by audiolingual method) to conventional visually oriented instructions
(e.g. learning by reading).
Post-exploring
This chapter is premised upon the contention that critical–affective pedagogy has every potential
to encourage other-oriented ethics and effectuate informed young think-tank and workforce
who are linguistically adept, strategically innovative, culturally nuanced, and ethically responsive.
Culling insights from the conceptions and praxis of culturally and linguistically responsive teaching
(Hollie, 2018), critical pedagogy (Freire, 2017), and worldly teaching (Raja, Stringer, & VandeZande,
2013), critical–affective pedagogy is a continuum of theory, method, and practice of teaching–
learning which combines criticality (the cerebral, the political, inquisitiveness, instrumentality) and
the affect (the visceral, sensations, emotions, individuality).
Since language is central to one’s individual and collective identities, teaching–learning lan-
guage must broach the issues of nationalism, colonisation, history, ethnicity, religiosity, and
socio-cultural orientation. Bangladesh has a curiously close yet contested relation with English.
People are convinced that we better learn English, because it is the world’s lingua franca. But,
how come one forgets that we have numerous English departments in the country, chiefly
because we were once ruled by the British? The resultant ambivalence has both demonised
English as the language of colonisation and deified English as the world’s ‘status’ and ‘career’
language. We, therefore, must situate the learning of English in Bangladesh vis-à-vis linguistic
nationalism (the basis of the political independence of Bangladesh) and linguistic imperialism
(the hauntology of British colonisation) with a view to accentuating the emancipatory poten-
tial of linguistic cosmopolitanism. For example, reading ‘English’ and Anglophone literatures in
Bangladesh makes space for dialogical cosmopolitanism. Developed from ‘forms of lingua franca
encounters and contact zone interactions’ (Canagarajah, 2013, p. 198), dialogical cosmopolit-
anism is a translingual phenomenon and is able to generate ‘a reflexive self- and other-awareness’
(Canagarajah, 2013, p. 196).Thus, a Bangladeshi learner reading Anglophone literatures not only
reads the ethno-lingual ‘other/stranger’ but also reads how the ethno-lingual ‘we’ represent the
‘other/stranger’ and how the ‘other/strangers’ represent ‘us’.
Language is a political–affective phenomenon; learning language is political–affective per-
formance. Critical–affective pedagogy is likely to render the use of Anglophone literatures in
teaching–learning English in Bangladeshi language classroom productive and responsive. It has
199
the potential to (i) make classes effective and lessons enabling, (ii) mobilise informed–affective
learners who perform languages as ethnographers and explorers, not simply as rule-learners and
test-takers, (iii) leave learners skilled in communication and active in interpersonal exchange,
and (iv) generate polysemic perspectives, which are cross-cultural yet locally grounded, able to
accommodate diversities without conceding individual agency and collective dignity. I contend
that critical–affective pedagogy has every potential to encourage other-oriented ethics and effec-
tuate informed young workforce and think-tank that is linguistically adept, culturally nuanced,
and ethically responsive. Performing English language and Anglophone literatures properly,
responsibly, critically, and affectively not only helps initiate dialogues between differences but
also provides participants with necessary linguistic and ethical strategies so that healthy dialogism
remains in practice and our individual and collective toxic ideas leave space for nuanced human-
istic sensations and sensibilities.
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13
LITERATURE IN LANGUAGE
TEACHING
The myths and the realities in Bangladesh
Introduction
Of late, fervent enthusiasm for incorporating literature into second or foreign language (L2 or
FL) teaching has been noticed, especially at the higher secondary (the last stage of K-12) level
in Bangladesh. Despite the fact that such advocacy has received both appreciation and criticism
internationally, integration of literature with L2 or FL teaching has resulted in emergence of spe-
cific approaches where literary components are highlighted (Kramsch, 2013).
Communicative approach was introduced in Bangladesh in 1997 for teaching English at the
secondary level and later on at the higher secondary level. Almost after two decades, the commu-
nicative curriculum was updated in 2012 and English for Today: Classes XI–XII & Alim1 (NCTB,
2015, reprint 2018) (henceforth, EfT), the textbook of higher secondary level, was updated
in 2015 where literature was reintroduced with more enthusiasm within the communicative
approach.Though the idea of introducing literature in teaching language communicatively is fas-
cinating and thought-provoking, their desired coalescence towards the formation of a successful
coursebook faces the challenges of efficiently implementing the relevant theories into appro-
priate practices. In the following sections of the chapter, theoretical discussions on issues per-
tinent to communicative language teaching (CLT) are presented first. It is followed by further
discussion on the pros and cons of using literature in language teaching (LT) in a communicative
manner. Finally, the nature of innovation in EfT, in the light of the theoretical discussion, is crit-
ically analysed to lay bare the current situation, leading to a set of constructive suggestions for
diverse stakeholders of EfT.
Theoretical discussions on issues related

to CLT regarding literature
The following discussion is limited to the most relevant issues related to CLT such as com-
municative competence (CC), CC vs. analytic competence, conventional schemata vs. literary
schemata, Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive/Academic Language
Proficiency (CALP), comprehensible input, authenticity, cultural suitability, and so on. Albeit a lot
has been written on CLT-based approaches throughout the globe including Bangladesh, certain
concepts need to be presented prior to an analysis of EfT.
202
CC and other types of competences

Canale (1983) proposed four-component framework of CLT, including grammatical compe-
tence, sociolinguistic competence, strategic competence, and discourse competence.The concept
of communicative approach is better crystallised in five guiding principles, which are ‘coverage
of competence areas’, ‘communicative needs’, ‘meaningful and realistic interaction’, ‘learners’
native language skills’, and ‘curriculum-wide approach’. While discussing CC, Bruner (1975)
mentioned ‘linguistic competence’ and ‘analytic competence’. His idea of the linguistic com-
petence was no different from the one propounded by Chomsky (1965). However, he defined
‘analytic competence’ as
the prolonged operation of thought processes exclusively on linguistic representations,

on propositional structures, accompanied by strategies of thought and problem-solving
appropriate not to direct experience with object and events but with ensembles of
propositions
(Bruner, 1975, p. 72)
By this, he indicated that analytic competence is the ability to use language for higher-order
cognitive activities. Bruner (1975) considered ‘communicative competence’ as a prerequisite for
‘analytic competence’, implying analytic competence is superior to CC both in nature and in
function, and more specific to the technical aspects of content and text, unlike CC, which is
inclusive of the general aspects of the context and users and uses.
Conventional schemata vs. literary schemata

Widdowson (1983) shared his ideas about teaching literature communicatively. He differentiated
‘conventional discourse’ or ‘conventional schemata’ from ‘literary discourse’ saying, “Literary
schemata are created internally, within the literature itself. They are not projected from out-
side” (Widdowson, 1983, p. 30). He further explained that in conventional discourse, one can
anticipate by reading minimally but in literary discourse, readers need to ‘employ interpretive
procedures’ or ‘procedures for making sense’ (Widdowson, 1983, p. 31). He, therefore, supported
the inclusion of both the schemata as both of them serve two different but important functions –
extracting meaning and creating meaning. Meaning creating, one of the functions of reading
literary discourse, is superior to using conventional discourse.
BICS and CALP, and comprehensible input

According to Cummins (1979, 1981), BICS refers to L2 learners’ ability or skill in conver-
sational fluency while, on the other hand, CALP, to their ability to understand and express,
orally or literally, concepts and ideas, relevant to success in institutions. The idea is further
complicated with the addition of two continua named ‘cognitive demands’ and ‘contextual
support’. The diagrammatic representation (Figure 13.1; Baker, 2001) offers more convenience
in comprehension.
BICS (in the first quadrant) is characterised by context-embedded communication and less
cognitive demand, while CALP (in the fourth quadrant) by context-reduced communication
and more cognitive demand. Literary appreciation falls under the fourth quadrant. When using
literature in LT, one needs to be careful about progression from one quadrant to another one,
taking the level of the learners into account.
203
Figure 13.1 The diagrammatic representation of BICS and CALP (Adapted from Baker, 2001, p. 172)
Krashen’s (1981a, 1982) idea of ‘comprehensible input’ can be related to our understanding of
BICS of CALP. He defined language acquisition as an outcome of successful comprehension of
input slightly beyond the current level of competence of the learners. While the input available
in BICS situation is supposed to be much within the current level of competence of the learners
because of its context-embedded communication and less cognitive demand, input available in
CALP situation is supposed to have an opposite outcome because of context-reduced communi-
cation and higher cognitive demand. Care needs to be taken if the kind of language that selected
literary texts provided to the learners reflects the principles of the comprehensible input.
Authenticity and cultural suitability

Authentic materials motivate and engage learners pertinently (Gilmore, 2007), turning them into
decision makers of learning, reflective practitioners and powerful negotiators, and optimising
204
communicative scope for learners (Ortiz & Cuéllar, 2018). They refer to learners’ experience of
real language and its use in their community (Widdowson, 1990). Traditional content of the for-
eign language textbooks are often criticised for presenting unreal content and artificial nature of
language and structures (see Aghagolzadeh & Tajabadi, 2012). Berardo (2006) advocated the use
of authentic materials for offering real world language, and their selection based on suitability of
content, exploitability, readability, and presentation.
However, using authenticity in LT has challenges, including cultural bias, irrelevant vocabu-
lary, numerous structures, time consumption, and so on (Tamo, 2009).Widdowson (1983), in this
regard, commented,
“You must select literature which is going to engage the interest of the learners … one
would look for literature which was in some sense consistent with the traditions that
the learners are familiar with” (p. 32).
Authentic materials and literary texts, if selected and used properly in LT adhere to most of
the features mentioned above. On the other hand, since culture and language are related inex-
tricably, the use of literature facilitates developing cultural competence amidst the language
learners (Sell, 2005). However, McKay (1982) warns that literary materials may be ‘culturally
charged’, hindering, rather than facilitating language learning. Hence, cultural consideration of
the content with reference to target language (TL) and learners’ own language requires careful
attention.
Implications of the theoretical discussion on the communicative

use of literary content
While the appreciation of literary content is more suitable for analytic competence, its use in
CLT calls for inclusion of CCs in the construction of tasks and activities. Both literary and con-
ventional schemata need to be employed in the communicative use of literary content. Such
approach requires a balance between the first quadrant and the fourth quadrant of BICS and
CALP. Literary texts should offer comprehensible input, suitable for interaction. Authenticity
and cultural suitability of the TL texts, tasks, and contexts need to be taken into consideration as
regards the learners’ level and background. Literary content, if selected appropriately, offers the
complete potentiality to be utilised communicatively. The challenge lies in the development of
the communicative tasks-on-literary-texts.
Approaches to using literature for language teaching

Different approaches to using literature for LT have been proposed. Maley (1989) talked about
three stages of LT using literature where ‘framing’ stage includes warm-up activities for acti-
vating learners’ schemata; ‘focusing’ stage initiates learners’ comprehension and interpretation
of the text; and ‘diverging’ stage causes different types of parallel activities to emerge from the
text. Maley’s stages are an attempt to effective utilisation of literature in LT for learners’ holistic
development.
Carter and Long (1991) proposed three models: language, cultural, and personal-growth
models. For the current chapter ‘language model’, where language is seen as the medium of
literature, is of utmost importance. In this model, literary use of structure and vocabulary, and
literary texts are seen as a means and source to provide the different types of linguistic patterns
and structures, including literal and figurative aspects. Texts are utilised as a pedagogical support
205
for practising language. In the models, literature is treated as ways and means of learning language
from either the linguistic or cultural or personal enrichment perspective.
Lazar (1993) also developed a three-model approach for studying literary texts, which are
‘language-based,’ ‘literature as content’, and thirdly ‘literature for personal enrichment’. Lazar
(1993) was convinced that while a language-based and ‘literature as content’ based approaches
could be beneficial to most students, using literature for personal enrichment would benefit only
‘literary-minded’ learners.
Carter (1996) mentioned language-based approaches integrating language and literature, styl-
istic approaches using literary appreciation, and more recently discourse stylistics using pragmatics,
discourse analysis, and text linguistics. “Language-based approaches are student-centred, activity-
based and process-oriented” (Carter, 1996, p. 3), whereas stylistic approaches include literary
criticism and linguistic analysis. Carter (1996) finally proposes for ‘classroom-based conclusion’,
characterised by close reading of texts, process-based and activity-centred methodology, learner
involvement, and autonomy. The earlier approaches by Carter require efficient and trained
teachers, whereas the latter ones require more advanced level students with good understanding
of both literary criticism and linguistics. Carter’s classroom-based approaches even require more
advanced level teachers.
The review of the models indicates commonalities among them; the debate seems to be
around which gets priority: language or culture, content or individuals, texts or activities. All
these models call for expertise from teachers in both literature and language, sometimes even in
cultures to varying degrees.
Pros and cons of using literature for language teaching

There is an abundance of arguments both supporting and opposing the use of literature in LT.
Arguments favouring literature are presented first.
Arguments in favour of literature

Literature promotes literacy and oracy along with critical and analytical ability, social skills, and
imaginative power, enhancing liberal, ethical and humanitarian attitudes, and respect for literary,
cultural, and linguistic tradition (Burke & Brumfit, 1986). Maley (1989) considered literature as
a potent resource in the classroom for the following reasons: universality, non-triviality, personal
relevance, variety, interest, economy and suggestive power, and ambiguity. In addition, Collie and
Slater (1990) favoured literature in LT as it is a valuable source of authentic materials, providing
scope for cultural enrichment and personal involvement.
In foreign language classroom, literature motivates learners offering access to cultural back-
ground, encouraging language acquisition, and developing interpretive capacities (Lazar, 1993).
Sell (2005) defended its use in language for boosting TL learning as narrative structures are more
suitable for young learners, offering insights into other cultures, and presenting relevant contents
to language learners than the usual textbook topics. Citing Carter (1988), Sell (2005) mentioned
the ‘acquisition of discoursal skills’ in the TL which adheres to communicative acts, triggered by
inferencing, mostly required by literary texts. Parkinson and Thomas (2000) listed the following
reasons supporting its use in LT: cultural enrichment, linguistic model, mental training, extension
of linguistic competence, authenticity, memorability, rhythmic resources, motivating material,
openness to interpretation, and convenience. While talking about tertiary level EFL teachers and
their training programmes in Vietnam, Van (2009) mentioned some of the advantages of using
literature in the FL classroom asserting that literature ensures meaningful contexts, offers a huge
206
range of vocabulary, dialogues, and prose, develops students’ language skills and appeals to their
imagination, develops their cultural awareness, encourages critical thinking, and conforms to the
learner-centred and interactive features of CLT. Its use in LT serves double purposes. According
to Cruz (2010), literature, as a source of authentic materials, ensures ‘employment of linguis-
tics’ on ‘language in use’ and “aesthetic representation of the spoken language … to recover or
represent language within a certain cultural context” (p. 1). Daskalovska and Dimova (2012), in
this regard, argued that literature presents opportunities for developing inferential and interpret-
ational skills.
Literature, itself, is an original and rich source of language input, ranging from genuine day-
to-day communicative use to sophisticated and artistic expression of emotion. It is entertaining,
attention-grabbing, motivating, and dynamic in genre and linguistic variation. There cannot be
any reason for not using such resourceful source of language in target LT.
Arguments against literature

The idea of introducing English literature has been severely criticised from different perspectives.
Teaching English literature has been criticised for cultural imperialism (Thiong’o, 1986a).
Thiong’o (1986b) further commented, “Thus language and literature was taking us further and
further from ourselves to other selves, from our world to other worlds” (p. 12). Canagarajah
(1995), in this regard, encouraged the use of nativised version of English used in post-colonial
literature and referred to ethnographic studies that suggest
pedagogies and textbooks from the center are not used in the prescribed manner in
local classrooms, and […] strategies of resistance against the discourses and ELT peda-
gogies are influenced by students’ own indigenous social and educational traditions
(p. 593).
Sell (2005, pp. 86–87) criticised literature for being distant “from learners, whether historic-
ally, geographically, socially, culturally or linguistically”. Lazar (1993) criticised literary con-
tent for being remote from learners’ background and the language used in literary texts for
being ‘intricate’. Literature, according to Sell (2005), empowers teachers and “is used less as a
means to an end than as an end in itself, less as a resource than an object of study in its own
right” (p. 87). Lazar (1993) contended that language-based approach is more concerned ‘with
the study of literary text itself ’ (p. 27), adopting stylistic analysis, and ‘language as content’
approach is more “the province of the literature teacher rather than the language teacher”
(Lazar, 1993, p. 35). Hişmanoğlu (2005) emphasised the challenges of teaching foreign lan-
guage by using literature by referring to lack of appropriate teaching materials for using lit-
erature, lack of preparation in teaching literature in TESL or TEFL programmes, and lack of
clearly delineated aims and objectives regarding the role of literature in classrooms. He rightly
pointed out that many teachers are enthusiastic about using literature in LT, but they lack
appropriate training.
Literature often receives ‘efferent reading’ in language classroom, instead of ‘aesthetic
reading’, mentioned Rosenblatt (1978), distinguishing the earlier one as being disengaged
reading from the latter one as being more involving reading. In similar line of argument,
Widdowson (1978) stated, “to present someone with a set of extracts and to require him to
read them not in order to learn something interesting and relevant about the world but in
order to learn something about the language being used is to misrepresent language use to
some degree” (p. 80).
207
Savvidou (2004) criticised the use of literature as
the creative use of language in poetry and prose often deviates from the conventions
and rules which govern standard, non-literary discourse, as in the case of poetry where
grammar and lexis may be manipulated to serve orthographic or phonological features
of the language. (Paragraph no. 4)
Therefore, the reader needs to work hard to interpret literary texts whose meaning might be
detached from the immediate social context of the learners. She (2004) further added that litera-
ture can be complex and inaccessible for the foreign language learner. It can be disadvantageous
to language learning and L2 learners might not have control over basic mechanics of foreign
language for appreciating the stylistic aspects.
Literature, though, is a valuable and potential source of authentic language, the idea of using it
in LT without readiness and deeper understanding of facts is prone to challenges. Much caution
is expected to proceed with such experimental ventures.
Myths and realities of using literature in LT

The key issues given in Table 13.1 regarding the myths and realities of using literature in LT
emerge from the discussion detailed above (see ‘Approaches to using literature for language
teaching’ and ‘Pros and cons of using literature for language teaching’ sections). The tabular
Table 13.1 Five Myths and realities of using literature in LT
Myths Realities
1 Literature offers quality While using literature in LT, learners’ present level of language
samples of TL. and linguistic suitability of the materials need to be prioritised.
Culturally appropriate literature is likely to offer relevant sample
of language.
2 It presents scopes for Needs analysis of the learners and learner profiling are required to
learner engagement. find out if they will be engaged with the target literary materials.
Not all types of literature appeal to all the students equally.
Judicious selection of appropriate literary materials for the target
audience seems to be the deciding factor behind learner
engagement (see Widdowson, 1983).
3 It presents opportunities This issue depends on the treatment of literature by the teachers and
for communication. the learners rather than the text itself. If appropriate tasks-on-the-
texts are developed, ‘communication’ (see Canale, 1983) can happen.
4 It offers authenticity of Authenticity of the text can be retained by not compromising,
texts, tasks, and activities. simplifying, abridging, or altering the content, whereas that of
the tasks and activities can be retained by finding out if the
classroom activities match with the real-life
linguistic/‘communicative’ activities of the learners. Proper
analysis of needs, domains, and situations is needed and the
findings need to be incorporated into tasks development.
5 Literary appreciation L2 or FL learners might have problems with basic lexical and
includes higher-order grammatical issues, lacking the ability to engage in cognitively
thinking skills, e.g. higher-order activities required for literary appreciation. The
interpretation, critical primary concern of a language classroom is to improve learners’
appreciation etc. language skills and knowledge; cognitive development and the
ability of literary appreciation might occupy secondary priority.
208
representation of the issues converts them into more clearly definable points, making them easier
to conceptualise, and turning them into criteria for evaluating literary texts and tasks used in EfT.
It is evident that many of the claims favouring the use of literature in LT are taken as granted
rather uncritically without further probe. The benefits of using literature in LT are often
overgeneralised. Benefits for language learners lie in the treatment of the textual content more
than in the type of the content itself. Literary texts have the potential to be utilised in language
classroom if they are chosen appropriately, tasks are developed suitably, learners are engaged com-
municatively, and finally teachers are trained to use them effectively.
Critical examination of EfT
Methodology
‘Impressionistic method’ (Cunningsworth, 1995; Ellis, 1997; McGrath, 2002; Mukundan, 2009)
in combination with ‘micro-evaluation of tasks’ (Ellis, 1997) has been selected for evaluating
EfT. Such method is functional in obtaining rapid overview of educational contents, and evalu-
ating content, language, and tasks quickly and effectively, provided that the evaluation is done by
experienced teachers (Cunningsworth, 1995). Impressionistic method is used to obtain a general
impression of the materials by quickly glancing at it and getting an overview of the potentialities
and constraints (McGrath, 2002). Its weaknesses often include superficial and subjective evalu-
ation of contents. It has been criticised for being unempirical or unscientific (Mukundan, 2007).
In this study ‘impressionistic method’ has been employed to evaluate lessons, selected purposely.
The contents and tasks of the lessons are analysed apropos the theories and approaches discussed
in ‘Theoretical discussions on issues related to CLT regarding literature’, ‘Approaches to using
literature for language teaching’, and ‘Pros and cons of using literature for language teaching’,
sections, resulting in the formation of the five concerns in the above section. Measures have been
taken to reduce the weaknesses by including evaluation of multiple tasks from EfT (2015) in the
light of five concerns presented above (see ‘Myths and realities of using literature in LT’ section).
Thus, informed ‘impressionistic method’ has been employed in this study. Similar kinds of findings
from the analysis of the units/lessons have not been elaborately discussed to avoid monotony.
Findings
EfT is written by six authors and edited by two editors. It has 15 units with 57 lessons on 15 different
themes. The lessons are of varying lengths, and not equally distributed among the units. The topics
range from traffic education, food adulteration, human relationships to myths and literature, dias-
pora, art and music, and tours and travels. The process of ‘impressionistic method’ included glan-
cing through EfT to find out the nature of literary contents and the tasks produced around them.
Discussions are solely limited to those lessons and tasks, pertinent to the research issues addressed in
this chapter. In the remaining part of this section, first a description and analysis of certain central
lessons are presented which are followed by further explanation, interpretation, and criticism.
Unit 3, lesson 2 (Eating habit and hazards)

In unit 3, lesson 2, an abridged version of W. S. Maugham’s short story ‘The Luncheon’ is
presented. The story was preceded by a warm-up activity and a brief introduction to the story
and its author. The warm-up activity (EfT, p. 32) includes a group discussion on defining short
story and its essential elements. This kind of activity reflects Maley’s (1989) ‘framing’ stage (see
209
Figure 13.2 Post reading activities in an EfT lesson from Unit 3, lesson 2 (EfT, 2015, p. 37)
‘Approaches to using literature for language teaching’ section). The next discussion questions are
on balanced diet and the reasons of being overweight. The post-reading activities include the
questions as given in Figure 13.2.
All the post-task activities and questions are comprehension-based and some adhere to literary
appreciation, for example, questions numbered 5 and 6.Tasks are neither interactive nor authentic.
These questions do not comply with the four components of CC (see ‘CC and other types of
competences’ section). Conventional schemata have hardly been approached (see ‘Conventional
schemata vs. literary schemata’ section). Authenticity of the text has already been compromised
by using the abridged version (see ‘Conventional schemata vs. literary schemata’ section).
Unit 4, lesson 2 (Love and friendship)

‘Blow, blow, thou winter wind’, a short song from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, has been used.
Post-task questions (EfT, 2015, p. 43) include common comprehension questions which are
accompanied by questions on rhetoric and prosody like personification and rhyme scheme (see
questions numbered 5 and 6).
Such questions mostly conforming to literary appreciation and technical aspects like literary
devices or rhyme schemes (especially questions numbered 5 and 6) appear to be difficult and
exigent for the higher secondary students since they are not trained to study literature in English
academically and systematically to such extent. In most cases, they do not receive lessons on
literary devices and rhyme schemes in the classes. Accordingly, such tasks may appear much
beyond their current level of competence (see Krashen, 1981a, 1981b).When authentic language
as in Shakespearean plays is used, the language and expressions used there are far from the cul-
tural background of the higher secondary students in Bangladesh. Language-based interactive
210
Figure 13.3 Post reading activities in an EfT lesson from Unit 4, lesson 2 (EfT, 2015, p. 43)
activities, as suggested in the ‘personal growth model’ of Carter and Long (1991) or the incorp-
oration of both the conventional and literary schemata, as suggested by Widdowson (1983), can
help students more in appreciating the literary works and relating them to their life. However,
the current attempts made to engage learners in the tasks (see question 8 in Figure 13.3) are not
adequately interactive for not reflecting the principles of CLT (Canale, 1983).
Unit 5, lesson 3 (Why does a child hate school?)

William Blake’s ‘The Schoolboy’ has been used. The warm-up activities (see EfT, p. 56) include
both the conventional and literary schemata (Widdowson, 1983) though the comprehension
questions on literary appreciation are asked in the post-reading exercise, including only literary
schemata. No attempt has been made to transform these questions into prompts for interaction.
These questions also reflect the features of ‘analytic competence’ (see Bruner, 1975 in ‘CC and
other types of competences’ section) and literary schemata.
Unit 7, lesson 5 (Human rights)

Robert Frost’s ‘Out, Out-’ is included.The warm-up activity (see EfT, p. 90) and the post-reading
tasks (see EfT, p. 92) follow almost the similar characteristics or styles as mentioned in ‘Unit 5,
lesson 3’. The warm-up activities involve the ‘framing’ stage (see Maley, 1989, in ‘Approaches
to using literature for language teaching’ section) and conventional schemata (see Widdowson,
1983, in ‘Conventional schemata vs. literary schemata’ section). The post-reading questions are
based on comprehension and literary appreciation. They do not reflect the four components of
communicative approach (see Canale, 1983, in ‘CC and other types of competences’ section).
Unit 9, lesson 1 (Bengal’s face)

The content of Jibanananda Das’ poem ‘I have seen Bengal’s Face’ (a translation of a Bangla
poem) is relevant to learners’ culture (see Canagarajah, 1995). Some questions are on the local
myths of Bangladesh. Interactive activities for group work have been developed. The questions
are mostly on comprehension, language, and literary appreciation. One follow-up activity in the
form of group presentation (see EfT, p. 112) has been suggested at the end of the chapter.
211
Unit 12, lesson 1 (Definition, causes and types of conflict)

‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ by W.B.Yeats and the extract from ‘From September 1, 1939’ by W. H.
Auden) have been used in this lesson. A very brief and simplistic background has been provided
to these two poems and poets. No attempts have been made to contextualise the themes of these
poems, specifically the theme of the World War II in Auden’s poem. All questions are on either
appreciating or comprehending poetry and its aspects, for example, the meaning of ‘bee loud
glade’ in Yeats’s poem (see question 3 in EfT, p. 147) or how the city of New York contributes to
the conflict in the poet’s mind in Auden’s poem (see question 7 in EfT, p. 147).The questions do
not reflect the communicative principles, and include the conventional schemata. The culture-
specific issues of these poems are often far from the Bangladeshi learners’ background. As Auden’s
poem is taught in fragments, authenticity has been compromised.
In lesson 3 of the same unit, ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ by Lord Alfred Tennyson is
included. Here the warm-up activity includes the following instruction: “Think and note down
some features of poetry that distinguish it from prose” and “Go to the net and find out more
about the war …” (EfT, p. 153). Literary appreciation is employed in the warm-up activity and
other post reading tasks, for example, finding metaphors, the poet’s attitude to the soldiers, and
so on. These types of activities are highly academic and requires CALP and analytic competence
(see ‘CC and other types of competences’ and ‘BICS and CALP, and comprehensible input’
sections). The battle of Balaclava, the topic of the poem, is hardly known to the Bangladeshi
readers. In that sense, familiarity of the topic creating remoteness from the learners’ background
is an issue as well. Some register-specific questions like the meaning of the words ‘bridge’ and
‘league’ (see question 7 in EfT, p. 156) are found. They conform to the principles of CALP and
deviate from the ideas of ‘communication’, and ‘comprehensible input’ (see ‘BICS and CALP, and
comprehensible input’ section).
In lesson 4 of the same unit, ‘The Old Man at the Bridge’ by Ernest Hemingway is included.
The lesson aims to develop a critical understanding of the text. However, the post-reading tasks
involve literary analysis and critical appreciation of the text, including questions on the role
of the narrator, the function of the old man, the setting of the story, and so on. Such activ-
ities involve literary schemata, analytic competence and CALP, and exclude linguistic compe-
tence, conventional schemata, and comprehensible input (see ‘Theoretical discussions on issues
related to CLT regarding literature’ section). Neither the literary content is used nor are the tasks
developed communicatively, ensuring learner participation and interaction.
Unit 14, lesson 1 (What is beauty?)

‘She Walks in Beauty’ by Lord Byron and ‘I Died For Beauty’ by Emily Dickinson on the abstract
notion of beauty have been included in lesson 1 of unit 14. Here the warm-up activity (see
EfT, p. 180), which is relevant to the texts, instructs for group work. However, the post-reading
tasks are on literary appreciation, as in the previous units, and literary technicalities about which
the learners do not have any idea at all (see question 8 on ‘abab rhyme scheme’ in EfT, p. 182).
Such questions are based on CALP, literary schemata, and analytic competence, lacking in four
components of CLT (see ‘CC and other types of competences’ section).
Emergence of patterns in lessons where literary texts are used

The following literary contents have been used in the remainder of EfT. As ‘impressionistic
method’ is used in evaluation, and the findings reveal the emergence and existence of repetitive
212
patterns, detailed analyses of all lessons containing literary contents are not presented here. Unit
and lesson-wise names of the literary pieces are provided first and the discussion on the emerging
patterns are placed next.
Unit 10 (U10), lesson 2 (L2): ‘Dream’ by D. H Lawrence and ‘Dream’ by Langston Hughes,
and lesson 3: Abridged version of the famous speech by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963.
U11, L2: Extract from “Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity in the Bangladeshi
Diaspora” by Nazli Kibria [here one post-reading activity instructs for group work; see question 4
(EfT, p. 137)].
U15, L1: ‘Memoirs of Dacca University 1947–1951’ by A.G. Stock (here the warm-up
activity (see EfT, p. 191), which is relevant to the texts, instructs for group work and pair
work]. L2: ‘Burmese Days’ by George Orwell [here the warm-up activity (see EfT, p. 194),
which is relevant to the texts, instructs for pair work. Here one post-reading activity (see
question 5 in EfT, p. 197) instructs for pair work]. L3: Gulliver’s Travels (Visit to the Land
of the Lilliputs) by Jonathan Swift [here the warm-up activity (see EfT, p. 198), which is
relevant to the texts, instructs for interaction, and the post-reading tasks include questions
on understanding capitalisation, using punctuation marks, reading comprehension, and sen-
tence making; all these questions address stylistic and literary issues in non-communicative
and non-participatory manner]. L4: English Translation of the travelogue ‘Shigurf Name-e-
Vilayet’ [here the warm-up activity (see EfT, p. 202), which is relevant to the texts, instructs
for group work].
After analysing the lessons where literary texts are used, the following common patterns have
been identified.
1. Attempts are made to make warm-up activities interactive. However, most of the warm-up
activities are not on-text activity.
2. Most of the questions are based on reading comprehension and literary appreciation. They
are not converted into communicative tasks. In other words, communicative tasks based on
literary texts are not developed.
3. Four skills of language, that is, listening, speaking, reading, and writing are neither highlighted
nor integrated.
4. Interaction and communication among learners is hardly prioritised. Most of the tasks are
to be done individually and perhaps independently.
5. On most occasions, the level of literary texts and tasks do not match with learner’s level,
culture, context, and time.
If these patterns are set against the five concerns discussed in ‘Myths and realities of using litera-
ture in LT’ section, it becomes evident that because of the mismatch between the learners’ lin-
guistic level and that of the literary texts, the quality of the linguistic and cultural issues presented
through these texts is not beyond question. Though some of the texts offered opportunities for
engaging learners into communicative activities, such activities were scarcely found. Of course,
literary appreciation, without being communicative, was prioritised.
Further critical discussion

The significance and the implications of the findings require deeper realisation with refer-
ence to the brief historical overview of the educational context of Bangladesh presented below.
Alongside an implicit attempt to compare and calibrate the findings of the present study and
other recent studies is made.
213
EfT appears to be based on the impression that the teachers and learners have the desired level
of pedagogical capacity to cope with the book. The reality, however, is significantly different
because the quality of the books can be enhanced overnight but that of the teachers and learners
can hardly be. Most English language teachers and students lack required level of proficiency to
perform at the respective levels. Findings of a large-scale research, conducted on the proficiency
level of the students of Classes IX and XII in 45 schools by the English Teaching Task Force
(1976), revealed that students were respectively 2 years and 4 years behind the proficiency level
in English, as assumed in the coursebooks. Rahman, McGinley and McGinley (1981) found a
4-year gap in English proficiency among the students entering tertiary education. Gap was iden-
tified between the proficiency level acquired at the end of the higher secondary programme and
the proficiency level needed from freshman students in a study done by the University Grants
Commission (UGC Report, 1988). Large-scale research including 1400 students and 20 schools
found no trace of improvement in proficiency to meet the required standard maintained in the
prescribed textbooks of Classes VI and VII (Baseline Survey, 1990). It also found that 80% of the
school teachers did not have proficiency to teach at the secondary level (even at the level of Class
VII though many of the teachers taught in Class X). The majority of secondary English teachers
hardly possessed the required level of English proficiency, skills, and understanding to continue
their classes in English (English in Action, 2010). In a more recent study, Islam and Ahsan (2011)
found that students from rural areas are promoted to Class IX or X without attaining the desired
level of proficiency in English and they held the low proficiency of the teachers responsible.
There is no rational way to justify the assumption that the quality of the teachers and learners
has dramatically improved in four-to-five years in higher secondary level. (I mention four-to-five
years here because English in Action conducted their research in 2010 at the secondary level and
EfT was introduced in 2015 at the higher secondary level.)
It is a perennial concern in the context of Bangladesh that teachers usually rely on lecturing
(Selim & Mahboob, 2001). They are hardly familiar with the idea of training and existence of
different teaching methods; teaching literature for improving English grammar is the only way
they know even after the introduction of CLT (Selim & Mahboob, 2001). Farooqui (2008) found
that secondary teachers rarely practice speaking activities in spite of their presence in the text-
book.They held the low proficiency of learners responsible. Resultantly, Kabir (2015) concluded
that “our language teachers are not well prepared to cope with the newly designed curriculum
even after two decades of the introduction of CLT” (p. 21).
The present curriculum (English Curriculum, 2012) suggested inclusion of literary contents,
stating, “Students will be able to read, understand, enjoy, interpret and critically appreciate stories,
short plays, poems, and other literary pieces (reading, writing, speaking, listening)” (p. 26). It
recommended integrating literature with all language skills. However, Hassan (2018) reported
that teachers found the language in literary texts to be difficult, and poetry to be a difficult genre.
They were not contented with literary appreciation and students were bored with the activities.
Both the teachers and students lacked required proficiency in English to appreciate literature.
They suggested replacement of texts with easy, relevant, and more recent literary pieces. As our
teachers and learners lack the proficiency to perform their level-appropriate basic communi-
cative tasks, most of the literary contents, questions, and tasks of EfT seem to be unsuitable for
them to deal with.
Khan and Rahaman (2019) found that the contents or learning activities of EfT do not match
with the objectives of the Curriculum (English Curriculum, 2012), which prescribe outcome-
based education integrating knowledge, skills, attitude, cognitive, psychomotor, and affective
learning outcomes, and advocates for practicing four skills; however, the mentioned lessons are
found to include mostly reading and writing activities.
214
Furthermore, Khan and Rahaman (2019) found that around 33.33% of the lessons contain
literary texts and they expressed their satisfaction with the nature of the contents. However,
they criticised the inadequately designed tasks and activities, lacking variation and capacity to
stimulate language learning. They commented, “Most of the literary texts are followed by com-
prehension questions, word-meaning exercises, or typical literary questions” (Khan & Rahaman,
2019, p. 166). Khan and Rahaman (2019) finally denounced the book for the selection of lit-
erary texts chiefly from British–American literatures, and for not incorporating research-based
implications from the field of Applied Linguistics in developing tasks. Most of the findings by
Khan and Rahaman (2019) match with those of the present study.The present study, in addition,
includes an impressionistic evaluation of warm-up activities, not included in the previous studies.
However, the quality of those activities was disappointing as well.
Suggestions and conclusions

All of the stages of education ranging from curriculum via syllabus, materials, and teaching to
testing are closely intertwined. It is imperative to realise the curriculum guidelines and reflect
them into textbooks to be used in classrooms. Hence, teachability needs consideration as well.
Teachers play an important role in teaching language through literature, especially in the selec-
tion of materials and methods and classroom activities (Hişmanoğlu, 2005). Utilisation of lit-
erature in LT is maximised when appropriate communicative activities integrating four skills,
interaction, collaboration, peer teaching and students’ independence (Van, 2009), group activities,
heightened reading and interpretive abilities (Baurain, 2007) are developed.
Selection seems to play a significant role behind the success of using literature in LT. A linguis-
tically or culturally difficult text is likely to have fewer benefits (McKay, 1982). In the educational
systems where teachers have the liberty to choose their own materials, they are supposed to take
into account language learners’ background, needs, motivation, interests, language level, psycho-
logical development, concerns, aspirations, and so on (Collie & Slater, 1990; Sell, 2005). In our
case, classroom teachers are left with no choice; their responsibilities in selecting literary contents
are shouldered by materials writers.
The idea of using literature in LT needs to adhere to the learner-centred communicative
approach. If innovation in teaching does not conform to learner-centredness, the use of literature
in a communicative curriculum becomes self-contradictory and counter-productive.
Theories from the field of Applied Linguistics, ELT, and education suggest literature requires
a different kind of treatment in LT, not competently followed in EfT, as found in the study, and
other recent studies (Hassan, 2018; Khan & Rahaman, 2019). Widdowson (1983), in this regard,
commented,
All I’m suggesting, I suppose, is that literature is an available resource. But having said
that, I don’t want to promote a ‘literary approach’ to language teaching as if this were
a totally new paradigm to replace the structural or notional-functional approach or
something (p. 34).
EfT, specifically, fails to include relevant theoretical implications from the field of Applied
Linguistics. Four components of CLT framework have not been followed in writing EfT.
A balanced approach towards ‘conventional schemata’ and ‘literary schemata’ is not found. Most
of the literary contents and questions are beyond the present level of the learners. Authenticity
of the texts is often compromised and authenticity of the tasks is scarcely found. Crucially, the
three stages of teaching literature ‘framing’, ‘focusing’, and ‘diverging’ have not been followed in
215
a balanced manner. Focusing has been prioritised, framing, loosely followed and diverging, not
been followed at all.
The current chapter underscores the importance of ‘cautious’ and ‘judicious’ selection of lit-
erary contents according to the contextual factors, and skilful creation of tasks and activities.
The study finds that the use of literature has hardly been communicative in a communicative
curriculum. Inclusion of more suitable literary texts and development of more appropriate tasks
and activities in the upcoming editions of EfT through further research, including a combination
of impressionistic evaluation, in-depth evaluation, and checklist-based evaluation of materials
(McGrath, 2002, Ur, 1996) by diverse stakeholders of education, are suggested.
Note
1 Alim refers to the educational level in madrasa system (Islamic education system) equivalent to the
higher secondary level of the mainstream education system.
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14
CONTENT AND LANGUAGE
INTEGRATED LEARNING
A case study on simultaneous teaching of English
literature and language in a private university
in Bangladesh
Asif Kamal
Introduction
English literature provides a productive background where content knowledge and communica-
tion skill can simultaneously be nurtured as literature offers a range of vocabulary, dialogues, and
prose (Van, 2009). With a goal of serving these dual purposes, Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL) has emerged as an important approach in contemporary pedagogy. CLIL is
defined by Dalton-Puffer (2008) as the exploitation of a second language (L2) in the teaching
of non-language subjects such as physics, mathematics, and literature. As a pluriliteracy approach,
CLIL appears to be significantly important in the second language or lingua franca contexts in
academia, business, and other communicative situations. Consequently, CLIL has been identified
as an effective approach for language teaching in the major parts of the world, complementing
the inadequacy of previously used approaches and methods for language teaching and learning.
The efficacy of CLIL has been identified for teaching language in second language contexts,
where students are heavily exposed to the target language.
A series of research studies have already identified the inadequacy of teacher-dominated
lecture-based classes in improving students’ language skills, their abilities of understanding con-
tent, and their capacity of comprehension in Bangladeshi classroom contexts where English is
the medium of instruction (EMI) (Hasan, 2016; Shahriar, 2012). It has also been observed by the
researcher, as a classroom teacher, that except for few enthusiastic students with real passion for
learning, most of the learners seem detached and feel deficient in language skills; consequently,
they are thoroughly excluded from the discussions and activities held in the classroom (Sultana,
2014) and from the contents of the lessons taught in class using EMI in Bangladesh (Hamid,
Nguyen, & Baldauf, 2013). Thus, along with content teaching of English literature, a parallel
support of language lesson appears to be necessary for communicative purpose of knowledge
acquired from the lessons imparted in class. Therefore, an exploration of some more effective
new methods and approaches seem vital to meet the ever-increasing need of upgrading learners’
proficiency needed to communicate effectively (Ellis, 2003).
219
Asif Kamal
A need to expand the integration of English language learning together with subject-matter or
content learning to Bangladeshi classroom contexts is evident. The level of language proficiency
is found to be average among the currently admitted undergraduate students in BA in English
programmes in private universities in Bangladesh, and because of this ‘deficiency’ the learning
objective of the courses under this programme seems to remain incomplete. In most universities
in Bangladesh, a considerable portion of this programme comprises literature in English courses;
and in these classes the students are stuck at the superficial level of the literary text because, in
most cases, students get admitted in this programme with an English skill below the requirement
(Yeasmin, 2011). According to international standard practice, the students aspiring to get admis-
sion in BA in English programme are expected to have minimum IELTS test score of 7.0 points
or minimum C1 level language skill according to Common European Framework of Reference
(CEFR); an international standard for describing language ability as well as language learning,
teaching, and assessment. Nevertheless, through an English level test administered on the partici-
pant group before the implementation of the CLIL lesson in literature classes it was found that
the average English test score of the admitted students’ in BA in English was below the require-
ment. Therefore, to meet this gap, the contribution of CLIL appears to be quite significant. Thus,
this research was conducted addressing the following research questions:
• To what extent may CLIL be used in English literature classes for teaching the English lan-
guage and literature at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh?
• What possible strengths and weaknesses does CLIL have for it?
• In what ways may CLIL be made effective?
Significance of CLIL for teaching English language and literature

The issue of education in a language which is not the first language of the learner is as old as
education itself (Coyle, 2007). Therefore, there is no reason to assume that CLIL is totally a new
phenomenon. Rather it is a revitalisation of an old and effective pedagogy by the European
Union during 1994 with the aim of professional cooperation within and across disciplines, and
introducing new ways of teaching and learning. The educational motivation behind CLIL was
to design and, otherwise, adapt existing language teaching approaches to provide a wide range of
students with higher levels of competence (Marsh, 2012). Therefore, the requirement of higher
level of language competence was always an expectation in academia.
This approach has received considerable attention in different parts of the world over the last
decades (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010; Lyster & Ballinger, 2011). This integration of learning
the content and enhancing language proficiency has given rise to two significant approaches:
Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and CLIL (Dalton-Puffer & Smit, 2007). In CBI lesson the
focus is supposed to be on learning any topic or subject matter ranging from a science subject
to movie, and so on, using the target language. Through this dual attempt the learners naturally
learn to develop knowledge as well as linguistic ability. Both CLIL and CBI are often synonym-
ously considered as two labels for the same reality (Coyle et al., 2010; Dalton-Puffer, 2008); CLIL
appears to be a better option since it has broader target, whereas CBI’s primary target is English
for Specific Purposes and adult education. Therefore, English literature classes appear to be an
ideal platform for the proper application of CLIL with its dual target.
Through CLIL lessons students are enabled to learn through the language rather than in the
language (Coyle, 2007). In fact, the strengths and successes of CLIL depend on its successful
achievements of a number of broader aims, such as raising learner’s linguistic competence and
spontaneity; raising teacher and learner expectations and confidence; developing problem-solving
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Content and language integrated learning
skills; increasing vocabulary and grammatical awareness; motivating and encouraging students’
self-determination and freedom; developing study skills and concentration; learning how to learn
through the foreign language; generating positive attitudes towards social issues; and embedding
cultural awareness and intercultural issues into the curriculum.
These aims can be achieved through using literature as content in CLIL lessons.With a view to
considering literature as language teaching material through CLIL, it can be claimed that except
the difficulty in choosing the appropriate literary text, literature in general can be an ideal reading
content for EFL classroom because it may involve the integration of four language skills and cer-
tain syntactic patterns; besides, stylistic word order inversions occur more frequently in literature
providing linguistic, methodological, and motivational advantages (McKay, 2001). Literary texts
are motivating due to their authenticity and the meaningful context they provide (Ghosn, 2002;
Khatib, Derakhshan, & Rezaei, 2011). The use of literary texts can also provide a relaxing and
interesting environment needed for the language classroom. If students enjoy reading literature,
this activity may increase their motivation to interact with a text and, thus, ultimately increase
their reading proficiency (McKay, 2001). Therefore, integrating content and language teaching
in English literature classes at the tertiary level of education seem to be effective in developing
students’ comprehension level of literary contents as well as enhancing their English language
skills simultaneously.
Here, to promote learner-centred teaching the contribution of task, a fundamental element of
any lessons of CLIL, cannot be denied. Since tasks involve communicative language use in which
the students’ attention is focused on meaning rather than on linguistic structure, they do not
always require only real-life situations such as “filling out a form, buying a pair of shoes, making
an airline reservation, …(etc.)” (Long, 1985, p. 89). Rather, CLIL defines tasks as communicative
endeavours involved in “comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target
language” in class, developed on the content of the subject/course (Nunan, 1989, p. 10). These
activities foster both language and content learning. Since most language classes are composed
of a heterogeneous group of students, their purpose and style of learning differ. A variety of tasks
should be provided complying with their preferences of learning style and catering to their pur-
pose of learning.
Since CLIL uses language materials designed in the form of tasks based on the contexts of
life, literary texts can be very successfully introduced to teach language as, in literature, we find
simulations of real life contexts where different situations are replicated (Van, 2009).The lessons in
CLIL materials are assumed to be greatly structured, the activities organised, and the ideas or tasks
directly linked following task dependency and recycling (Nunan, 2004); hence, simple literary texts
is supposed to go smoothly in the class since the reader can find a smooth storyline to connect
ideas. Therefore, presumably the dual purpose of CLIL may well be served in literature classes.
As task is integral to CLIL, sometimes tasks developed on literary texts instead of critical or
analytical texts can engage students more in the classroom activities. It can be well demonstrated
that along with the thematic aspects the use of tricks in language, the rhetoric in speech, and
the art of public speaking can be taught using CLIL method while teaching such as Orwell’s
Animal Farm. Therefore, literary knowledge can be integrated with language learning as most
literary texts are universal, non-trivial, relevant, varied, interesting, brief, and ambiguous (Maley,
1989) which are vital for any learning. Tasks in the CLIL material for the students can better be
developed if the learners can relate themselves with the universal, relevant, and varied contexts
presented in the literary pieces. Besides, the ambiguity and non-triviality of the literary texts can
motivate the learners to the completion of the tasks as these may push the learners in solving
the ambiguity, suspense, and problems presented. According to some scholars, dialogic value
(Alam, 2007) of literary texts is also extremely helpful in learning a second language. To develop
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successful CLIL tasks for students of literature course, a balance between language intensity and
content intensity may render an ideal cognitive load, which ultimately may provide learning
comfort to the students.
Though the linguistic difficulty of literary text and the lack of knowledge about English
language and culture to interpret them are some of the arguments against using literature in
the language classes (Sullivan, 1991), literature is still used to teach language to ESL learners in
different parts of the world (Van, 2009). Literature can provide a natural and meaningful learning
context to learn about a topic using specific language within a CLIL perspective (Richards &
Rodgers, 2001;Yang, 2014). Therefore, CLIL is used to teach both school subjects and languages
in different countries such as Korea, China, and Taiwan (Pinner, 2012; Rodríguez & Puyal, 2012),
but it is seldom applied to teach English literature courses to undergraduate students. However,
it has not been adapted for undergraduate literature classes in the context of Bangladesh as such.
CLIL ideology is based on socio-constructivism and the 4Cs – content, communication, cog-
nition, and culture. Here ‘context’ is a phenomenon which works to maintain the “symbiotic
relationship that exists between these elements” (Coyle et al., 2012, p. 40). This 4Cs framework
of Coyle, Hood, and Marsh (2010) is used in the current study, given the importance of the
inter-relationship among content, communication, cognition, and culture for reaping successful
outcomes (if any) of applying CLIL approach in English literature classes. Individually, content
refers to subject matter which ranges from subject disciplinary (science, literature, etc.) to cross
disciplinary themes; communication refers to language learning skills and usage; cognition refers to
learning and thinking processes and skills; and culture refers to intercultural understanding and
global citizenship which impacts on all the other Cs by providing a background for interaction.
For smooth interaction between the communication and content, a suitable context of culture
is obvious. In this regard, literature provides us with a strong cultural element as it embodies and
has “a certain aesthetic value and some perceived status in the culture of which they are artefacts”
(Edmondson, 1997, p. 45). Therefore, keeping these 4Cs in the background CLIL can ideally be
experimented in literature courses which are not done so far, to the researcher’s knowledge, in
undergraduate classes in Bangladesh.
Methodology and data collection procedure

A mix-methods approach (Steckler, McLeroy, Goodman, Bird, & McCormick, 1992) of
both qualitative and quantitative data collection for this research was adopted. The primary
data collection methods included (a) implementation of CLIL between pre- and post-tests
(b) questionnaire survey of CLIL lesson learners, and (c) interviews with selected CLIL learners.
Interviews were used to gather qualitative data with open-ended information which presented
the diversity of ideas gathered, and the questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data with
close-ended information to measure attitudes and behaviours of the research participants towards
CLIL in literature classes.
The CLIL lessons were trialled among the second and sixth semester of BA English students
with an age range of 18–21 years.The primary data was collected through the implementation of
CLIL lessons in two different courses with three credit hours each in two consecutive semesters.
The courses included Contemporary South Asian Writings in English and Modern Fiction. For each
course, students had the opportunity of attending 20 lessons, each of 90 minutes duration, with
a total of 60 contact hours of CLIL lessons. The Pre-test-1 was held at the beginning of the first
contact. The intervention started with CLIL-1 lesson prepared on the short story ‘Interpreter
of Maladies’ by Jhumpa Lahiri then the second intervention was with the second CLIL lesson
(CLIL-2) on the poem ‘Ode on the Lungi’ by Kaiser Haque. After the lessons, Post-test-1 was
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held and data were collected. Before the implementation of the third CLIL lesson (CLIL-3)
another Pre-test-2 was held. After the Pre-test-2, third round of CLIL-3 lesson prepared on the
short story ‘The Cat in the Rain’ by Ernest Hemingway started; then Post-test-2 was held. Before
the start of the fourth round of CLIL lesson (CLIL-4) prepared on another short story titled ‘My
Oedipus Complex’ by Frank O’Conner, a Pre-test-3 was held and after the completion of the
fourth round of CLIL lesson prepared for the distinctive assessment of vocabulary improvement,
the final Post-test-3 was held (Figure 14.1). The accumulated results of the CLIL intervention
were put in a table for comparison.
Along with the content lessons in the CLIL materials, the input on language lessons included
the use of correct tense, passive voice, parallelism, use of comparatives, use of interrogatives,
phrasal verbs, and unknown vocabulary.
Another survey questionnaire with 14 open-ended questions was administered among 33
students of CLIL classes to get the account of first-hand experience of CLIL literature lessons
and identify its strengths and weaknesses. Ten of the participants randomly chosen from the
experimental group were interviewed using a set of 14 open-ended interview questions to inves-
tigate their reaction towards the use of CLIL in the above-mentioned courses and the lecture-
based approaches used in other courses. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and notes
were taken to collect the data. All data collected from the notes were thematically analysed to
identify emerging issues and challenges faced.
After the pre- and post-tests for CLIL lessons, the questionnaire was administered to iden-
tify the ways how CLIL in English literature class can be made more effective in teaching both
English literature and language. It was administered also with a purpose to elicit from the research
participants the possible strengths and weaknesses of CLIL in English literature classes. In add-
ition, it tried to identify the possible ways to address the weaknesses of using CLIL in literature
classes.
Figure 14.1 Pre-test, CLIL lesson, and post-test flow chart
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The experiment-technique and lesson plan used for this procedure were adopted from Khatib
(2011). The activities used in CLIL lessons were divided into three major parts: pre-task, during
task, and post task. The activity types were divided into individual, pair, and group-works so that
there was much collaboration in the learning process. After the completion of the trial sessions,
the task materials were collected, checked, and corrective feedback was provided by the instructor.
The classes were comprised of heterogeneous students with mixed capability of English within
the range of CEFR levels B1, B2, and C1 (IELTS equivalent 3.5–6.5, 7), which was determined
by a proficiency test using an online-based language level test at the beginning of the course.The
university’s existing infrastructure did not allow dividing the participants between higher com-
petence and lower competence group on the basis of their previous language skills. It is admitted
that other previous variables might have some influence in the proficiency development of the
learners in this heterogeneous group.
Development of language skills through CLIL in literature classes

The pre-test and post-test results were compared to see the change of language skill and con-
tent knowledge. Tables 14.1 and 14.2 show the average score of the pre-test and post-tests
administered before and after the implementation of CLIL lessons in four different phases. After
each phase there was intervention of new CLIL lessons on literary contents.
It was found that the average pre-test score achieved by the students was 9.27 out of 18 and
the average score in the first post-test was 9.44 which was insignificantly positive.There was only
1.83% of increase in their improvement of English skills. However, the overall points developed
by 2.63 which was 14.61% higher than the pre-test-1 score.
Initially, after the first and second intervention of CLIL, the learners’ language score was not
increased rather it decreased by 38.84%, but after the third intervention of CLIL, language score
was increased by 17.63% (Tables 14.1 and 14.2). The survey among the participants also revealed
almost the same fact endorsing that CLIL helped improve the correct use of grammar of most of
the participants who were weak in grammar.
However, around 64% of the respondents of the survey, at the same time, feel that insufficient
language competency is a barrier in studying English literature in terms of comprehension.
Nonetheless, 18% either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that the lack of lan-
guage competency is a barrier for understanding English literature. The rest 18% respondents were neu-
tral in their position regarding the lack of language competency as negative catalyst in learning
literary contents. It was also found that those who did not endorse the idea that the lack of
language competency is a barrier in better understanding of literary contents (Figure 14.2) had
considerably better skills in English.
When the respondents were asked whether without English language support through language
lessons, understanding the content of English literature is difficult, the response was almost similar to the
response of the previous question (Figure 14.3).
Table 14.1 Average test score as findings in CLIL literature class experiment
Pre-test-1 CLIL1 CLIL2 Post-test-1 CLIL3 Post-test-2

Ave. Ave. Ave.
Date 05 Jul 2017 26 Jul 2017 22 Oct 2017

Total score: 18 9.27 9.44 11.90
Content score: 12 5.63 7.22 7.45
Language score: 6 3.63 2.22 4.27
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Figure 14.2 Participants views on the statement The lack of language competency is a barrier for understanding
English literature
Since the majority of the students agreed or strongly agreed that the lack of language compe-
tency was an obstacle for students in learning literature and felt that without language support
it was difficult for them to overcome the barrier, with all these logical reasons, language support
simultaneous to literary lessons was deemed necessary by 67% of them (Figure 14.4).
With all these logical reasons 85% of them agreed or strongly agreed that language lessons par-
allel to content lessons helped the learners in terms of understanding the literary contents (Figure 14.5).
The idea was further established through the interviews. The appreciating strength of CLIL in
Figure 14.3 Participants’ views on the statement Without English language support through language lessons,
understanding the content of English literature is difficult
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Figure 14.4 Participants’ views on the statement For understanding literary contents, language support
simultaneous to content lessons for students is necessary
literature class was inferred from the participants’ acknowledgement that CLIL lessons, to some
extent, helped them to develop their skill of using correct grammar.
Therefore, it can be deduced that (1) long-term intervention of CLIL in literature class may
develop students’ language skills; (2) students take time to get acclimatised to CLIL in literature
class as they are traditionally habituated to lecture-based literature classes; and (3) CLIL will help
develop students’ skill in using language with correct grammar such as tense, parallel structure,
comparatives, use of phrasal verbs, and sentence structure.
Figure 14.5 Participants’ views on the statement Language lessons parallel to content lessons helped the learners
in terms of understanding the literary contents
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Table 14.2 Pre-test and post-test result for vocabulary development through CLIL
Pre-test-2 CLIL4 Post-test-3

Vocabulary Vocabulary
Date 03 Oct 2017 31 Oct 2017

Total point 25 25
Average score 10 19
Percentage 40% 76%
Development of vocabulary through CLIL in literature classes

It was also observed that the lack of vocabulary knowledge of the learners of English literature
was crucial in understanding the content of an original literary text.Therefore, there was a special
pre-test and post-test held to test the vocabulary improvement of the students, and the result is
demonstrated in Table 14.2.
CLIL lessons in literature class helped increase the vocabulary of the learners. In terms of using
and recognising meaning of some vocabulary identified and selected from the original literary
text from the syllabus, the pre-test and post-test results varied in a great scale. It is demonstrated
in Table 14.2 that out of 25 the average scoring point in the pre-test was 10 which is only 40%
of the total score. Whereas in the post-test held after the implementation of CLIL-4 lessons the
average test score increased to 19 which is 76% of the total. Therefore, after the CLIL lessons
the vocabulary of the students was increased by 36%. Hence, it can be deduced from the above
findings that CLIL lessons in literature class helped to increase students’ vocabulary which is very
crucial for them in understanding the literary texts.
It can also be triangulated with the survey results conducted among the CLIL learners. In
this case, the questionnaire also revealed that CLIL in literature class mostly helped to improve
the vocabulary of most learners. Of the respondents, 82% in the survey agreed to this idea
(Figure 14.6).
Figure 14.6 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL Literature helped to improve English vocabulary
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Figure 14.7 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL has helped improve grammar
Along with the improvement in the vocabulary strength CLIL helped to improve … grammar of
the respondents. More than 70% of the respondents agreed that CLIL has helped them improve
their grammar of English (Figure 14.7).
If we further triangulate these findings with interviews, it is observed that the interviews also
reveal the same fact. Most interviewees believed that CLIL in literature class helped to improve (their)
English vocabulary and grammar. That is, CLIL in literature class helps develop students’ knowledge
of vocabulary.
Enhancement of literary content knowledge

It was found in the pre- and post-tests that after the CLIL-1 and CLIL-2 interventions the lit-
erary content knowledge score was improved by 28.24%, and after the CLIL-3 intervention
the score increased further by 32.32%. After the first and second rounds of CLIL the total test
score was increased by 1.83% because the score in literature part of the post-test was distinctly
increased. Most of the participants with weak linguistic competence believed that CLIL helped
to increase their literary knowledge (as found in the survey). Language support for understanding
literature was necessary for those who were weak in using English skills.
Since improving literary knowledge was the primary goal of a literature course, the researcher
was rightly probed to investigate whether CLIL … (anyhow) hampers the objective of the course which
was to improve literary knowledge (Figure 14.8).The investigation into this issue revealed that around
60% respondents agreed that the CLIL did not hamper the learning of literary knowledge.
Interviews also reveal some of the participants believe that task-based literary lessons integrated
with language lessons were helpful to learn the literary contents. Therefore, CLIL in literature
classes are effective for those who are weak in English skills as it helps in the development of
literary knowledge.
It was also revealed through the interview that the participants did not believe that CLIL
did not hamper the objective of the course which was to improve literary knowledge and learners’ attention
from literary lesson was not distracted (Figure 14.9). In response to the question do you think that the
lack of language competency is a barrier for understanding English literature, most of the respondents
agreed without any reservation that language incompetency is a barrier in understanding and
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Figure 14.8 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL did not hamper the objective of literary course
responding to the content of English literature. They also believe that without English language
support through language lessons, understanding the content of English literature is difficult only for those
who have weakness in English skills.
Learners’ appreciation and interest in CLIL in literature class

No data was found regarding the point of appreciation and interest in the pre- and post-tests
results, but the questionnaire revealed that the CLIL lessons were enjoyable by most learners as
it involved students in class activities in pairs and groups. In fact, the most important strength of
Figure 14.9 Participants’ views on the statement Learners are distracted or diverted from literary lessons while
language lessons are imparted
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Figure 14.10 Participants’ views on the statement Lessons through CLIL were enjoyable
CLIL lesson was that it was enjoyable. In response to the statement, Lessons through CLIL were
enjoyable, a considerable number of the respondents were positive. The pie chart of Figure 14.10
gives a clear picture of the scenario in which a total of 65% was in agreement to the statement;
among them 37% strongly agreed and 28% simply agreed to this.
However, a total of 16% of students either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the idea that
CLIL lesson in literature class was enjoyable. About 19% of the respondents was neutral, which
is a significant number. It was also found from the investigation that those who believe that the
language and content integrated lesson in English literature classes is not enjoyable had a very
good proficiency in all the skills of English language.
Besides, the collaborative task in deciphering the themes of literary texts encountering new
vocabulary seemed to give them autonomy and ownership in class. Some of the participants
who already had good skills of language at the beginning of their tertiary education did not
much enjoy the CLIL lessons in literature classes. Analysing their education at schooling it was
found that majority of them had English-medium instruction of education at school. Interviews
with them also revealed that some of the participants who had less competence in English skills
enjoyed CLIL lessons in class, but the majority of the selected participants, who had good skills in
English, did not like the CLIL lessons in literature class. This was one of the weaknesses of CLIL
in literature classes. It can be deduced that the majority of the learners enjoy CLIL in literature
classes; then again, learners with higher competence in English do not like the integration of
language and literature lessons.
Negative impacts of CLIL in literature classes

A number of negative feedbacks came out through these instruments. The pre- and post-tests
revealed that the distinctive poor score in language part after the first and second rounds of CLIL
negatively affected the total of literature and language score as the total score was not satisfactory.
On the other hand, it was also revealed from their opinion in the questionnaire that breaking
down the literary texts into chunks to develop CLIL tasks focusing on both language and con-
tent lessons in class destroyed the essence and pleasure of studying and analysing literature.
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Figure 14.11 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL lessons in literature classes are better than lecture based
lessons of literary contents
Of them 52% believed that CLIL lessons distracted them from learning content lessons though
the majority of them were positive about CLIL lesson in literature classes as 44% endorsed that
content and language integrated lessons in literature classes are better than lecture-based lessons of literary
contents; whereas 35% of the respondents did not believe that CLIL-based literature class is better
than lecture-based literature class (Figure 14.11). This 35% negative response to the statement
above may lead to the scope of further investigation to the question why CLIL is not that much
helpful for a significant number of students in literature class?
Traditional lecture-based classroom habits in school and college may have developed among
students the expectation of lecture-based lessons from tertiary education. Simultaneously, the
majority of the interview participants with better language skills expected lecture-based literary
lessons which seem to be another weakness of CLIL lessons.
Correspondingly, around 52% of the survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that
during CLIL lessons in literature class the learners are distracted/diverted from literary lessons while
language lessons are imparted (Figure 14.9). Bearing the same tone with the previous issue, 44%
of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that CLIL hampered the learning of literary contents
(Figure 14.12). Of them 28% remained neutral which gives a significant signal that CLIL in lit-
erature class does not carry any significant importance. This contradiction of data to the findings
of previous sections demands further investigation into the reasons for this anomaly.
Regarding the response about the allotment of CLIL class-timing in literature class, almost
equal percentage of choice was seen among the respondents (Figure 14.12). There were mixed
feelings among the respondents regarding contact hours (Figure 14.13).
Though the respondents responded positively to the statement that CLIL did not help to
improve (your) English language skills (Figure 14.14), it helped to develop grammar and vocabu-
lary (Tables 14.1 and 14.2). This is the area where a situation turned critical in terms of the
respondents’ improvement of grammar and literary knowledge. Respondents and research
participants had a very queer feelings and responses in this regard.
Correspondingly, it was found that around 22% of the research participants strongly agreed
that CLIL did not help to improve (your) knowledge of literature (Figure 14.15). This data is crucially
important if we want to assess the success and effectiveness of implementing CLIL in tertiary
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Figure 14.12 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL hampered the learning of literary contents
level literature classes. The above data suggest that almost a quarter of the students in a litera-
ture class enjoy lecture-based classes and did not entertain the interference of language lessons
to understand the literary content as they were already well equipped with the necessary skills
of language needed to comprehend authentic English literary texts. That is why the same per-
centage of respondents resonated almost the same when they were asked whether CLIL did not
help improve their literary knowledge.
It was outlined that a significant number of participants of the CLIL lessons and respondents
of the survey and interview were not positive about the CLIL lessons in English literature classes.
Figure 14.13 Participants’ views on the statement Allotted class/interactions time for simultaneous teaching of
content and language lessons is sufficient
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Figure 14.14 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL did not help to improve (your) English language skills
After a minor investigation into the background of those respondents’ English skills it was found
that most of their English skills were much better than the others who were much more positive
about the use of CLIL in literature classes.
The next weakness of CLIL in literature class can be understood from the findings that a good
number of the participants believe that the pleasure of literature is lost in CLIL lessons.Therefore,
short-term CLIL in literature class is not effective to yield positive result, and lecture-based lit-
erary lesson is preferred by majority of those with better language skills.
Therefore, the interview revealed that CLIL was not much enjoyable for a group of ten ran-
domly chosen participants most of whom coincidentally had better language skills. More than
half of the interview participants do not think that language lessons parallel to content lessons helped
the learners in terms of understanding the literary contents, and that content and language integrated lessons
Figure 14.15 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL did not help to improve knowledge of literature
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in literature classes are better than lecture-based lessons of literary contents. They also endorsed that for
understanding literary contents, language support simultaneous to content lessons for students of BA in
English programme is unnecessary or useless.
To the question “Do you think the lack of language competence is a barrier for understanding
English Literature?” one of the interviewees’ response was as follows: “It depends from student to
student, if the student is good enough in English (it is not a barrier). It is not a barrier for me.”
Others gave almost similar responses.When asked,“What do you think about focusing on both the lan-
guage and literature lessons? Does this integration anyhow destroy or enhance the learning of literature and
its pleasure?” The interviewee responded, “Yes somehow it (destroys), the way…Lecture-based is
fine sir, we can take the note from the lecture … and we can relate the real life situation and we
can actually focus on the literature content…”
As a support to their stand, the reasons that they cited can be summarised as (a) CLIL hampered
the learning of literary contents, (b) learners are carried away (distracted/diverted) from literary lessons while
language lessons are imparted, and (c) though CLIL helped to improve English language skills, it did not
help to improve knowledge of literature.
However, as an overall impression they commented that the allotted class/interaction time for
simultaneous teaching of content and language lessons is insufficient (Figure 14.13) for successful imple-
mentation of CLIL lessons in literature class.
Implications of the findings

The pre- and post-tests during CLIL lessons in class, the learners’ responses in the survey, and the
interviews provided the researcher with some decisive insights regarding the implementation of
CLIL lessons in literature classes.The thematic analysis of qualitative data collected from interviews,
quantitative analysis of the questionnaire, and a comparative study between the test scores before
and after implementing CLIL lesson with experimental group yielded, on an average, a positive
development among the learners, which determined the efficacy of CLIL in literature classes.
Nevertheless, as revealed from interviews with selected participants, the implementation of
CLIL could not reap successful results in literature classes with the whole of heterogeneous
experimental group in terms of content learning. Since the students with advanced compe-
tency level in English aspired to develop their skills of literary appreciation instead of linguistic
features, the CLIL did not contribute much in developing their overall language skills apart from
the development of their vocabulary strength by 36% (see Table 14.2). This study’s intention to
understand the efficacy of CLIL implemented on 4Cs framework in English literature classes
and to get better outcomes in terms of students’ performance in understanding the content and
using the language was partly achieved. Therefore, the achievement of homogeneously positive
outcome of this dual goal from a heterogeneous group was doubted.
In addition, the objective of this investigation to explore and examine responses, issues, and
challenges regarding content, communication, cognition, and culture (4Cs), related to the CLIL
implementation in literature classes, was found to be accomplished moderately. Contextual symbi-
osis was maintained by intercultural understanding of literary texts; cognition by nurturing learning
and thinking processes through CLIL tasks was also attained, but literature as subject matter or con-
tent could not play an important communicative role for all the students of these literature classes.
However, because of its equal emphasis on content teaching and language skill training, CLIL
implementation lessons in literature classes seemed to be proven wholly successful if a need based
further exploration is done. In general, students enjoyed doing the tasks in CLIL lessons with
eagerness and enthusiasm because, theoretically, CLIL ensured much student participation in
active learning (Darn, 2018) instead of passive teaching in class with a purpose of installing higher
234
competence among learners (Marsh, 2012).This higher competence was ensured in language use
along with literature learning since the result of final language aptitude test conducted over the
students also deviated positively from the pre-test score. The mean of the score deviated from
B1/B2/C1 equivalent to other higher level(s) of CEFR.
Similarly, the CLIL lessons mentioned above had significant impact in the improvement of both
literary and language lessons as the average score of students’ performance positively deviated by
14.61% (Table 14.1) from the pre-test score. It can also be admitted that the time span used in
this study for intervention with CLIL seems insufficient to claim that implementation of CLIL in
literature class is effective in developing both the language skills and content knowledge among
learners. In fact, in an open credit system it is unlikely to get the same group of students in con-
secutive courses where the researcher could implement the CLIL lessons for longer period.
The implemented CLIL materials comprised of several language skill–enhancing lessons to
support the understanding of the theme, characterisation, and stylistic and structural features of
literary pieces. Parallel to the improvement of literary knowledge, the CLIL lessons exploited
these literary texts to improve language skills, including sentence skills and grammar lessons on
tense, comparative language, use of passive voice, collocation, preposition, word class, phrasal
verbs, and vocabulary. These particular language lessons were found appropriate to be integrated
with the above-mentioned literary texts taught in the course, and these language lessons suitably
supported the comprehension of literature and promoted the expression of critical analysis of the
literary texts taught in class. All the literary texts could not be used to teach all the language elem-
ents and all the language elements were not required to be taught to support the understanding
of that literary text. Hence, choosing a literary text for language lesson, or preparing a particular
language lesson exploiting a particular literary text to support the understanding of that text
depends on the teacher’s observation and expertise.
Lastly, it can be deduced that CLIL may partially be used for teaching English literature
and developing students’ linguistic competence in English at the tertiary level of education in
Bangladesh by integrating the task-based language lessons prepared on literary texts. Easier and
smaller literary texts seemed to be more effective.The key strength of CLIL for English literature
classes was its language support to the learners for understanding the original literary texts. CLIL
extended this support by improving students’ language skills in terms of the use of tense, appro-
priate sentence skills, use of comparatives, figurative language and phrasal verbs; specifically, CLIL
helped more in developing the majority of the students’ vocabulary strength.
On the other hand, the distraction from student’s sole attention on literature as well as from the
lessons on literary contents was the major weakness of CLIL in literature classes. Some students with
better language skills preferred lecture-based literary lessons in class instead of the integration or
immersion of language lessons.Therefore, a need-based application of CLIL in literature classes seems
to be more effective than just a gross application of it. However, implementing the same approach of
teaching in heterogeneous class always remained as a challenge for the teachers and educators.
A better solution to encounter this challenge could be proposed by dividing the students into
different sections or classes according to their needs. Then again, the problem remains with the
availability of suitable infrastructure in the private universities where the education providers, the
private university authority in this context, may not have the options for or may not be willing
to divide the classes into smaller groups on the basis of their linguistic capital as it will require
arrangement of extra classroom and teacher along with other infrastructural facilities. The major
concern for the education providers could be the economic exploitation of available infrastruc-
ture such as classroom space, language lab, faculty member, and teacher student ratio. Dividing
the classes may require more supply of these infrastructural facilities costing more expenses for
the education providers.
235
Asif Kamal
Besides, there are some other issues that may have posed challenges to and cast doubt on the
practicality of this research. Firstly, though in CLIL English lesson students should get more
opportunities to use the target language (English) for some real communicative purpose, this is
hardly possible in a large class (40–60 students per class in private universities in Bangladesh) and
the opportunity to use the target language (English) by students during the lesson was limited
which might be a concern for the teacher. Secondly, introducing CLIL in literature classes may
disappoint certain learners of literature whose language skills is much advanced and who have a
real passion for learning and enjoying literary contents of any literary text. Moreover, the unavail-
ability of ready-made CLIL materials based on literary contents also remains as a challenge in
implementing CLIL in literature classes. Since before starting the CLIL lessons these participants
had already done functional English and basic literature courses, and simultaneously studied
other literature and language courses (4–5 courses/semester) too, it is difficult to determine
whether there were other variables influencing their performance. This is another limitation of
this study. Therefore, the milestones are as follows:
1. Dual goal is possible but difficult to fulfil.

2. There can be a need-based implementation of CLIL.
3. Limited interaction time is a challenge for both teachers and learners.
Concluding remarks
In conclusion, this research as an important milestone helped to understand the efficacy of CLIL
literature at the tertiary level of education in Bangladesh and will bridge the research gap in
this field since, to the best of knowledge, there is no such research so far done in Bangladesh.
This research will also enlighten the teachers and students with the knowledge of strengths and
weaknesses of CLIL in both language and literature learning. As a testimony to the claim, it is
found from the research that CLIL helped majority of the students as a support, and worked as
a scaffold for understanding English literature in terms of the complexity of presenting theme in
them and the intricacy of language use. It also helped to elevate students’ language skills for the
lack of which students were found to face difficulty in appreciating the literary texts critically
and communicating literary knowledge in English. Moreover, this research also informed the
researcher about the weaknesses which may turn CLIL literature unsuccessful. A random use of
CLIL lessons in undergraduate literature classes will not yield any positive result to its object-
ives. Therefore, a need-based implementation of CLIL approach in literature classes seems to
be the proper solution deduced from the research to overcome the weaknesses, anomalies, and
contradictions.
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Appendices
The appendices include the (1) CLIL materials used in literature classes; (2) pre-test and post-test
tools; (3) questionnaire; (4) interview questions; and (5) lesson plan technique. The contents are
not added here in this chapter due to the constraints of space and are available if required.
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PART V
Language learning and construction

of identity
15
PERCEPTION OF SOCIAL
CLASS AND THE DISCURSIVE
CONSTRUCTION OF
IDENTITY IN THE MEDIUM
OF INSTRUCTION SPACE
Iffat Jahan
Introduction
Deploying language as a medium for teaching and learning is not simply a linguistic or educa-
tional question; it is also a socio-cultural and socio-political question, especially in a post-colonial
setting (see Malik, 2012; Song, 2013). In colonial India, although education in an exogenous
language was welcomed by some sections of the colonised population, it was resisted by others
essentially on socio-cultural grounds. However, the recent wave of the use of English as a
medium of instruction (EMI) in post-colonial as well as non-colonial societies has given little
consideration to such concerns. EMI marks a new global trend in education, with schools and
higher education institutions increasingly adopting English for teaching and learning purposes
(Dearden, 2014). EMI policies emphasise the instrumental value of English as a language of
science, knowledge, and economy by giving it a new status in a neoliberal world (Kubota, 2015;
Majhanovich, 2014; Phillipson, 2011; Salomone, 2015). This utilitarian view of English has not
adequately addressed identity or social class issues in relation to English, even though L2 learning
involves constructing identities (Block, 2014; Norton, 2013), implicating learners’ social origins
and backgrounds (Hamid & Baldauf, 2014; Ricento, 2012). Researchers have also illustrated how
students’ identities and worldviews are shaped by schooling through EMI (Hamid & Jahan, 2015;
Jahan, 2016; Jahan & Hamid, 2019; Ramanathan, 2005; Sandhu, 2010; Sultana, 2014a;Tanu, 2014).
This research has linked EMI to both individual and collective identities, with national identity
being the dominant category (David & Tien, 2009). Although social class identity in relation to
EMI deserves special attention, given the association of class and English-based colonial educa-
tion (see Hamid, 2011a; Pennycook, 1998), this identity has received minimal attention probably
under the premise that English has emerged as a popular language and that the unprecedented
rate of global mobility has erased class boundaries. In further pursuing this line of research, I
explore the construction of social class identity by Bangla medium (BM) and English medium
(EM) students in the post-colonial setting in Bangladesh. This chapter is particularly interested
in understanding how different dynamics of social class are utilised in discursive debates between
two groups of students following different medium of instruction (MOI) systems and how social
class identity is (re)defined by utilising these identity dynamics.
241
Iffat Jahan
This chapter, hence, seeks to present EMI as a potential site as well as an instrument for
constructing class identities in a globalised world. It illustrates how two groups of Bangladeshi
students identified according to their MOI orientations – BM (Bangla medium) and EM
(English medium) – construct self and other identity in line with their social class origins.
Drawing on a larger study on social divides constructed with references to nationalism, edu-
cational achievement, language, culture, and global orientation (see Jahan, 2016), the chapter
illustrates how social class discourses emerge in debates regarding choice of language(s) used as
MOI at school. I emphasise the class-MOI nexus and its implications for language, society, and
education in post-colonial nations such as Bangladesh.
Conceptualisation of social class

Although social class is a key concept in sociolinguistics and other language fields, its conceptual-
isation has been problematic. A key question is whether to consider class as a material or cultural
(discursive) category. In this chapter, I understand class in a way that takes into account both
material and discursive properties, thus eschewing the dichotomy (see Jahan & Hamid, 2019 for
details). EM and BM writers belong to particular social classes and they participate in the MOI
debates from their class positions, although class background and MOI orientation may not be
essentialised. At the same time, they construct new self and other identities which reproduce, dis-
tort, extend, valorise, malign, or essentialise their social class identities. My data reflect constant
interactions between material and discursive/performative dimensions.
To take into account the material view, I draw on Bourdieu and his sociological theory.
Bourdieu explains that individuals occupy a position in the social space living by a wider exchange
system than Marxist theory suggests, whereby they transform and exchange capitals within com-
plex networks or circuits. He suggests that individuals’ social class position is determined by the
amount of capital they possess. Capital refers to generalised possessions which can be both mon-
etary and non-monetary and can take both tangible and intangible forms (Anheier, Gerhards, &
Romo, 1995). Economic capital consists of the monetary income and other financial resources
originated in property rights, while social capital consists of the entirety of the actual and potential
resources activated through membership in social networks of actors and organisations (Anheier
et al., 1995). Cultural capital may exist in different states, including embodied, or the long-lasting
dispositions of the mind and body; objectified, such as cultural possessions, including pictures,
books, instruments, and technologies; and institutionalised, such as educational qualifications and
other achievements (Bourdieu, 1977, 1986). In line with this thought I accept that BM–EM
individuals are located in different social spaces depending on their possession of different types
of capital, both economic, social, and cultural.
Bourdieu emphasises that non-monetary forms of capitals, that is, cultural and social capital,
can be seen as ‘transubstantiated’ forms of economic capital and hence the concept of sym-
bolic capital. The conceptualisation of symbolic capital is dependent on the concept of habitus.
Habitus refers to a set of ‘dispositions’ which predispose agents to act and react in certain ways.
In Bourdieu’s words:
Habitus is a system of durable, transposable dispositions, structured structures predisposed

to function as structuring structures, that is, as principles, which generate and organize
practices and representations that can be objectively adapted to their outcomes without
presupposing a conscious aiming at ends or an expressed mastery of the operations
necessary in order to attain them.
(Bourdieu, 1990, p. 53)
242
Social class and the discursive construction
In the present study, habitus is conceptualised as BM and EM groups’ perceptions of taste, status,
lifestyle, decency, and sexuality which they utilise as indicators of social class for themselves and
their other.
Bourdieu’s concept of social class, which is an extension to Marxist theory, is useful for my
enquiry in positioning and ‘measuring’ social classes. Unlike the Marxist idea of determining
social class in relation to economic possession, Bourdieu’s theory can provide an understanding
of not only individuals’ economic standing but also cultural and social resources that are
revealed by their tastes, interests, activities, and networks. In their survey for measuring social
classes in Great Britain, Savage et al. (2013) had 167 items that ‘comprehensively’ enquired
about individuals’ economic possessions (e.g. income, property value, and savings), cultural
consumption (27 cultural activities including leisure interests, musical tastes, media use, and
food preferences) and social capital (social ties and relationships in terms of both quality and
quantity of contacts).
However, an objectivist or material view of social class is inadequate in language/discursive
spaces where it is more critical to understand how people are represented by language, not so much
who they really are. Therefore, I also consider social class identity as being enacted or performed.
This performative view aligns with the view of language underlying critical discourse analysis
(CDA) which I use as my method of data analysis (see data analysis section). For CDA scholars,
language does not simply represent reality; it also constitutes a version of reality. With reference
to the focus of the present chapter, in the MOI debates BM–EM writers not only represent
their class backgrounds but also give particular meanings and identities to their own and their
other’s classes through language.
Language divides, as LaDousa (2018) suggests, depend on language’s ‘alignment of
distinctions along different axes of social reality’ (p. 110). One way of understanding how
such differential alignment regarding language occurs in the MOI space can be addressed by
‘language ideologies’ or differential perspectives on and framings of language. Irvine and Gal
(2000) define language ideology as “the ideas with which participants and observers frame
their understanding of linguistic varieties and map those understandings onto people, events,
and activities that are significant to them” (p. 35). Language ideology may illustrate how the
two MOI groups can potentially be associated with elite/non-elite identity because of their
ideological alignment with one language or the other. The ideology perspective is particularly
useful in that representation of identities through language is ultimately materially and/or
ideologically motivated. And often, the language in language ideology is not about language;
rather, language serves as ‘a proxy’ (Suleiman, 2006) or ‘a mask’ (Chidsey, 2018) for social
constructions such as elite/non-elite, global/local, and patriotic/unpatriotic which are all
ascribed on BM and EM individuals depending on their alignment with capital and habitus
in Bourdieuan sense.
The Bangladeshi MOI context

Language policy in Bangladesh has been underpinned by language-based nationalism which
led to an exclusive promotion of Bangla in all walks of life. Bangla is a symbol of national
identity (Hamid & Erling, 2016). This policy emphasis on Bangla is linked to the tragic history
of language movement (see Hamid, 2011b; Musa, 1996) during Pakistani rule (1947–1971).
Since national independence in 1971, Bangla has been implemented as the MOI in schools
that follow the national curriculum (see Jahan, 2016; Rahman, 2007; Sultana, 2014b). In this
curriculum, English is taught as a compulsory subject.The importance of Bangla in public edu-
cation has ideological implications for English and English medium education in the country.
243
Iffat Jahan
For example, EM education and its students are often represented as ‘devoid’ of patriotism,
‘less’ Bangladeshi, ‘neglecting’ the national language, compromising educational standards and
comprising an ‘alienated’ social class (see Al-Quaderi & Al Mahmud, 2010; Banu, 2005). Such
representations follow the language ideology line in that these are attributed to their alleged
lack of proficiency in Bangla, tendency to migrate to Western countries and affiliation with a
global/Western culture.
Despite the social suspicion of EM schools and English education, the Bangladeshi elite class
has traditionally identified English as a symbol of socio-intellectual elitism, and thus this par-
ticular class has received international education through English provided by the private EM
education in the country since the public sector did not offer education utilising English as
the MOI (Jahan, 2016). The EM group’s familiarity with international standards of education
and their global belongingness have social implications (Banu & Sussex, 2001). Their sense of
self-superiority leads to othering the BM group and their education as ‘substandard’ and ‘local’
(as opposed to global), their patriotism as ‘hypocritical’ embodying ‘double standards’ and also
their outlook being ‘parochial’ (see Jahan, 2016). The present chapter utilises such contrastive
language-ideological positioning of the two groups as a background to an examination of how
these two groups identify themselves and their other as comprising two exclusive social classes
based on their respective MOI backgrounds.
The datasets
The MOI debate data that I draw on to examine the construction of social classes have been
selected from two sources: Letters to the editor (LTEs) written by EM and BM groups and posts
from a Facebook forum contributed by an online group titled ‘English Medium Students vs.
Bangla Medium Students’, also participated by both MOI groups. Some writers of the LTEs were
overseas and others in Bangladesh at the time of writing. However, those of the Facebook were all
living in the country.
The LTE data comprising of 200 letters over a period of 15 years (2002–2016) were derived
from two Bangladeshi daily English newspapers: The Daily Star (TDS) and The Independent (TI).
Both of these newspapers observe a liberal orientation, that is, they are open-minded, secular,
and progressive.They currently have online editions and thus most of the letters selected for the
study are in the public domain except the ones published before 2004. In 2002 the MOI debate
was triggered in the LTE section of TDS by the language of an entrance test paper in a reputed
college in Dhaka (see Jahan, 2016). The BM and EM students who had completed Grade 10
and ‘O’ levels, respectively, took the test to seek admission in Year 11. The language of the test
paper was in Bangla which was the ‘biggest problem’ (EML1) for the EM students since they
were less proficient in Bangla than their BM counterparts and thus felt disadvantaged which
the very first letter by an EM student in my dataset communicated articulately. This led to
a series of LTEs forming a vigorous debate in the news genre. Although this letter chain had
to be intervened and discontinued by the editor of TDS because of a large volume of letters
received, letters have been published, although less frequently, and will probably continue to be
published in the future.
LTE, as a literary practice, falls into the classification of everyday genres, also known as non-
canonical, primary, or homely genres (Miller, 1984), which are different from academic and
professional genres in respect to the coverage of topics (Bhatia, 1993). LTEs appeal to distinctive
members of a community, such as the BM and EM writers in my research, and thus provide a
point of encounter or transposition between the public and private domains (Kress, 1986). LTEs
accommodate dialogues between a newspaper and its readers and support the liberal ideals of
244
freedom of expression by symbolising the presence of vox populi in a medium that apparently
articulates elite discourses (Rojas-Lizana, 2009; van Dijk, 1996). Thus, through its distinctive
genre characteristic of translating the everyday matters to public attention, the LTE dataset of my
research contributes towards unfolding the identity tension regarding languages in Bangladesh
which may remain unnoticed in more formal genres. For example, while skimming a pile old
English language Dailies, I could see an EM letter from the print version of TDS that has ‘English
medium students in trouble’ as title.
The second dataset of the study consists of 380 posts by the online group ‘English Medium
Students vs. Bangla Medium Students’ in a Facebook forum, as previously mentioned (Figure 15.1).
Although more than 1000 posts were available in the forum, I selected 380 among them applying
the criteria of relevance and saturation for analysis of social class identities demonstrated in the
BM–EM’s discourses. The forum commenced operation on 28 June 2009 and was active until
28 November 2012. Although the group still exists on Facebook, no posts were contributed
after 28 November 2012. This group comprised of 86 members (as of 1 August 2019) from both
the EM and BM backgrounds, although some non-members also contributed to the discussion
since it was an open group.
This online group page mainly hosted the MOI debates by young people whose age groups
were obvious from their profiles and also from their language and topics of discussion, including
typical teenage topics like romance, sex, friendship/animosity, and cross friendship at school.
The language expressions, comprising of Bangla and English, were colloquial and naïve. Since the
content of the Facebook entries were unedited, unfiltered, and unmoderated, authentic voice
was communicated in raw, swear-rich, and often crude language. Despite the limitation of mod-
eration, Facebook is still a dependable form of social media genre with its ability to communi-
cate the ordinary and everyday life and mediate everyday communication through the internet
Figure 15.1 Snapshot of the Facebook page
245
Iffat Jahan
(Boyd, 2008; Lomborg, 2013). The unsolicited and everyday genre features of both datasets have
the potential of extracting BM–EM’s authentic voices, attitudes, and perceptions which might not
have been attained if I chose a solicited genre for data.
Analysing the LTE and Facebook data

Given that the analysis of media texts is a ‘central focus’ of CDA (Fairclough, 2010; van Dijk, 2015),
this method is relevant for my analysis of media and social media data to “illuminate the way texts
represent social reality and discursive construction of identities” (Busch & Pfisterer, 2011, p. 432).
The analytical framework of the larger project has drawn on van Dijk’s (2006) macro strategies
of positive self-representation and negative other-representation to illustrate how self- and other-
identity is represented in a discursive space. A third identity category based on in-between self
and other identity is categorised as hybrid third-space identity borrowing the concept of ‘third-
space’ (Bhabha, 2004). However, enquiry of class-related identity of the current paper eliminates
the third-space identity, so I have restricted my analysis to the representation of self- and other-
identity by BM and EM groups. For each of the discursive identity categories of self and other, I
have referred to the dynamics of identity utilised for the construction of class identity. The macro
frame of self and other is then linked to Fairclough’s (2012) three-level analysis of discourse. For
Fairclough, a holistic analysis of discourse can be performed by (1) describing textual/linguistic
features of texts; (2) interpreting discourses underpinning texts with reference to their production
and consumption; and (3) explaining discourses with reference to social processes and conditions.
For ease of reporting findings, I have labelled my LTE and Facebook data according to the iden-
tity of the writer(s): ‘EM’ for writers having an English medium background while ‘BM’ for writers
having Bangla medium background. Additionally, I added initials of data sources (L for letters and
F for Facebook) with BM–EM data pieces and then numbered them for ease of referencing.Thus,
letters are given the labels of BML(n) and EML(n) and Facebook posts the labels of BMF(n)
and EMF(n).
Discursive construction of social class identity

The LTE and Facebook data illustrate social class of BM and EM in terms of elite/non-elite iden-
tity which they construct by utilising such ingredients as affluence, affordability, consumeability,
taste, status, presentability, decency, family background, and sexuality. The discursive construction
of elite identity in this particular site essentially involves othering or construction of positive ‘self ’
over negative ‘other’ (van Dijk, 2006).
Social class identity of EM self

EM as belonging to the elite social class receives maximum focus in the BM’s representation
of them as affluent (BML13) and rich (BML7, BMF147); however, the EM also discursively
represent themselves as elite by justifying EM schooling on the ground of their affordability:
“there is nothing wrong with attending English medium schools. If some students can afford
it they have a right to receive whatever form of education they want” (EML39). EM’s elite
self-identification is carried out also by their reticence and lack of protest regarding BM’s such
identification of them (see Jahan, 2016 for more discussion). Additionally, it is evident in the EM
data that a few EM writers not only take pride on their affluent background but also defend the
high tuition of EM schools, discursively confirming affluence as being directly linked to quality
and affordability of education:
246
Example 1
If you [BM] cannot stand the heat then get out of the kitchen. No one forces us to send
our children to English medium schools. … English medium schools provide quality
education. To achieve such quality they must sure employ well qualified teacher and
provide excellent facilities and good environment for learning. I am sure it costs quite a
bit and we cannot expect fees to be cheap. (EML55, my emphasis)
The social class marker of affluence illustrated in Example 1 (among other instances) acknow-
ledges the EM’s possession of economic capital and thus the economic power over the BM. As
already indicated, the BM–EM debate, at the surface level, involves the question of language, the
national language in particular, which is a marker of national identity to the extent of identifying
negligence of Bangla as equalling compromise with nationalism. At an ideological level, how-
ever, the debate extends outside the linguistic-nationalism boundary to penetrate a state of class
dichotomy where BM equates the less affluent class and EM the elite class, a dichotomy that is
universally problematic.The heated nature of establishing the EM’s affordability discourse is to be
understood in light of such caustic BM–EM relationship where both groups take an essentialist
position to construct elite/lower-class identity of self and other.
Other than focusing self ’s economic capital and thus economic power over the BM, the EM
also highlighted their ownership of cultural capital which advances them further on the elite
scale. They are seen to be bragging their higher status and family background:
Example 2
Da [the] fellow students of all English [English] medium skuls [schools] are 4rm [from]
aristocratic families. (EMF27, my emphasis)
Example 3
… [O]bviously ‘english medium > [greater] bangla medium as we rule and have a higher
status. (EMF102, my emphasis)
Parallel to EM’s identification as belonging to the upper-class society, a few EM individuals

identified themselves as middle/upper-middle class who are ‘burdened’ with ‘too high [fees]
compared to the Bangla Medium schools’ (EML77). This discourse was presented by the EM
participants through claims such as the following:
Example 4
Exorbitant fee structure in English medium schools is breaking the backbone of the
middle class families which wish to provide quality education to their children. Parents
have become money-minting machines for such schools. (EML54)
The metaphors ‘burdened’, ‘backbone’, and ‘money-minting machines’ point to the difficulty
of the middle-class families who choose to send their children to EM schools despite their
limited affordability. Apparently, these discourses conform to anti-capitalist discourses char-
acteristic of mainstream BM population, at the cost of rejecting mainstream EM’s affiliation
with neoliberal discourses (see Jahan, 2016). The EM’s such self-identification is complex
considering that they were seen to be protesting the high fees of their EM schools only when
they opposed the school governance, but not the BM. Hence, it may imply that ideological
construction of social class may be relative to who is being othered; the EM are elites when
they need to be distinct from the BM, their other; but in other contexts, they may be identi-
fied as middle class.
247
Iffat Jahan
Social class identity of EM other

The BM data markedly identify the EM as elite with the help of the ingredient of affluence
through assertive and rhetorical utterances such as the following:
Example 5
[…] not surprisingly, English education goes hand in hand with affluence (BML13, my
emphasis)
Example 6
Although the idea of education is a necessity, the actual implementation is a luxury.
In Bangladesh, this luxury is further exemplified by … English Medium Schools
(BML25, my emphasis).
While apparently EM’s affluent identification is value free, it is actually complex. In Bangladesh,
the upper-class and lower-class, generally determined by affluence and wealth or its absence, are
traditionally considered antagonistic. While the lower-classes are suspicious of the upper-class’s
assumed superiority in relation to wealth and status (BMF118, BMF147), the upper-class is proud
of their wealth who undermine the less wealthy class (EML55, EMF34). Such negative attitude
has received a language ideological twist in the MOI context which my data illustrate.Thus, when
the BM group exchange arguments to position the EM’s social belongingness with the elite class
through affluence and other identity ingredients as I am going to discuss in the following sections,
they are actually associating elitism with the EM in a negative way. That is why it is so important
for the BM to establish that the EM group were from the elite social class. Likewise, the BM was
from the lower social class just to pronounce their ideological difference originating over the
question of language but mediated through other domains such as social class.
While representation of their other as affluent, and thus ideologically polarised, was enough
for the BM to reflect on the social suspicion attributable to class consciousness, they were seen to
be problematising the already problematic upper-class identity of their other by approximating
the extent of EM’s wealth:
Example 7
EM a tmra ja khata pencil kinte khoroch koro ta diya ai desh ar 60% family ar pura
bochor ar khoroch cholto [The amount of money that you spend on your exercise-
books and pencils in EM, would be enough to spend throughout the year for 60% of
families in this country]. (BMF138)
Another BM addresser, BMF218, advised that the amount of money the EM spent on school-transport
per month, equals monthly salary of 98% people in Bangladesh. These statistical figures, from CDA
perspective, are exaggerations and thus, may be instruments of othering discourses (Machin & Mayr,
2012); however, the huge gap in BM and EM’s wealth points towards equity questions regarding
wealth across social classes solidifying BM–EM’s ideological division over wealth distribution.
Although EM identity was invariably associated with affluence, affordability, and wealth, the
BM aimed at challenging such identity by reducing their other’s wealthy family background to
immoral behaviour implying the EM’s ascription of lower family habitus:
Example 8
amra sobai jani j EM ar pola paan ra hoy “BORO LOK BAAP AR CHOTO LOK
POLA” … amader baap r[a] struggle kore earn kore…tomader baap ar moto churi
248
baatpari or gambling kore earn kore na….nd tomader baba ra year a minimum 1bar
jail a jay [We all know that EM kids are “rich daddy’s mean kids”…our dads struggle
to earn, they don’t earn by stealing, deception or gambling…and your dads go to jail once
a year in the minimum]. (BMF147, my emphasis)
In addition to the negativity originating from the remark regarding the EM’s family degradation,
the ascription of BM self as struggling lower-class while EM other as dishonest, irresponsible,
and criminal is indicative of the split of trust between BM and EM at ideological level that the
BM data recurrently refer to.
Moving away from the economic ingredients of affluence, affordability, and wealth to perceived
marker of social class, the BM accused the EM of comprising the elite section of the society at
the expense of an exclusionary attitude attributable to the EM’s social isolation.
The BM argued that EM’s sense of social superiority resulted in their making of an ‘alien’ and
‘aloof ’ social class pointing towards a different set of capital and habitus that mainstream popu-
lation de-identifies with:
Example 9
… aren’t these schools, in exchange of sky-high tuition […] contributing to the cre-
ation of an alien Bangalee social class? (BML18, my emphasis)
Example 10
As long as a self-styled creative elite minority vaunt another language, the cultural system
as a whole won’t change much. Rather, there will be an unbridgeable gulf between the
“educated” and the rest, along with a gulf of economy, lifestyle, and attitudes about
other social classes. (BML33, my emphasis)
Utilising the metaphor of ‘sky-high tuition’, thus implying affordability and the discursive strategy
of dichotomy (van Dijk, 2006), the BM demonstrate how the EM were socially separate from
them by virtue of economic (wealth) and symbolic capital (education, lifestyle, and attitude).
The ironical use of ‘creative’ in Example 10 emphasises the BM–EM’s social class separation while
the metaphor of ‘gulf ’ points to the EM’s social alienation, exclusion and separation heightened
by the expression ‘unbridgeable’. This alienation aspect of the EM, which I consider an undesir-
able social capital that downgrades EM’s social class on the elite scale, is comparable to Hossain
and Moore’s understanding of hierarchised and polarised elite and lower classes in Bangladesh
who live in a state of ‘powerful tension’ (2005, p. 91) denying to have a common social space des-
pite having a shared physical space.
The affluence, affordability, quality, aristocracy, and status dimensions of EM identity, as exem-
plified so far, all point to EM’s social privilege that confirms their linkage with not only eco-
nomic but also symbolic capital and habitus. As Bourdieu (1977) explains, social class is relative
to different forms of capital and habitus ingrained through possessions of those capitals. Habitus
is consolidated as taste, lifestyle, values, and mastery/cultivation of one social group over another.
Considering the EM’s affordability as evidence of their economic capital and their perceptions of
prestige, aristocracy, and status as manifestation of social and cultural capital associated with their
distinct family habitus, it can be suggested that the EM group appeared as elites both econom-
ically, culturally, and socially. Although, from a discursive point of view, such identification may
be considered over-generalisation, it confirms that the EM’s elite identity is an outcome of the
ideological reasoning, suggesting English language and the EM are symbolic of affluence, status,
and aristocracy to distinguish from the BM as I illustrate in the following section in discussing
the BM’s social class identity.
249
Iffat Jahan
Social class identity of BM self

The BM group discursively constructed themselves as lower/middle class through claims such
as the following:
Example 11
Most Bengali medium educated students comprise of the lower middle class or poor.
(BML7, my emphasis)
However, in most cases, they identified themselves as belonging to lower social class indirectly by
discursively identifying the EM, their other, as an elite social class who are ‘different’ from them
and also by not protesting against the EM’s identification of them as not affluent, thus sanctioning
the EM’s identification of them as non-elite. This representation of BM’s class identity, although
validated by data, may be identified as over-simplistic, ambiguous, and complex given that the
BM deliberately backgrounded their class standing the way it is evident in the Bangladeshi con-
text, thus indicating a limitation of the study. The BM group, which constitutes more than 80%
of the student population in the country, cater for all strata of society, upper, middle, and lower,
but the data attest to the BM as belonging only to the lower-class (see Hamid & Jahan, 2015).
Social class identity of BM other

Like the BM group, the EM also utilised affluence as a dynamic of other’s social class identity.
While the EM’s affluence made them align with elite identity, its absence in the BM’s life made
them align with ‘lower’ social class. The BM’s relatively more modest economic background was
mockingly represented in the Facebook data which often transgressed decency due to lack of
moderation and censorship of the social media platform. Such representations referred to the
BM’s limitations regarding their purchasing power of everyday necessities like mobile phone
(EMF88) and underwear (EMF125):
Example 12
[A]ll they [the BM] wish is to be as cool as us which they can’t never be [sic]! shala
5tk damer underwear pore aber boro kotha koy [(slang) while they put on underwear
worth 5 taka (i.e. very cheap) they dare to speak big (oppose us)]! (EMF34)
The reference to a cheap private possession worth less than a dollar is a hyperbolic statement, which
may not be a meaningful indicator of economic capital. However, this example is drawn in the
chapter to indicate the range of references – however trivial – that are used in the MOI debates to
represent the other. The social and ideological significance of the example lies in the EM writer’s
attitude that tended to reject BM because of lack of affluence and affordability as if affordability is a
prerequisite for affluence. The EM were seen to be sarcastically representing the BM’s low income
and thus limited purchasing capacity to associate BM-identity with lack of affordability:
Example 13
Ekta multimedia set, pani-diye khara kora chul, moila shirt, rong-chota pant…etc hoilo
typical Bangla-medium student-er bornona. … money-bag-e tempo-vara chhara ar ek
taka-o tader x-tra thake na [One multimedia set, hair spiked with water, faded pants etc.
are descriptions of typical Bangla medium students … they don’t have any extra money
in their wallet other than tempo (shared auto-rickshaw) fare]. (EMF125, my emphasis)
250
EM’s ideology-laden (van Dijk, 2006) representation of the BM as being unable to buy quality
product, such as (only) one multimedia set, hair spiked with water (not hair-gel), faded (worn out, not
new) pants, and only enough money to afford the cheapest of all transport at the literal level, pointed
to the BM’s financial stinginess; however, at a deeper socioeconomic level, these representations by
the EM indicated their familiarity with a capitalistic consumerist culture which instrumentalised
their division with the mainstream social group that the BM represent. It is this division regarding
perceived affordability dimension that the EM wanted to refer to by equating affordability with
MOI background; as such they proposed Bangla and BM as standing for lack of affordability.
The EM’s representation of the BM as lower-class pointed not only towards the BM’s economic
difficulties but also towards lack of sophistication which equipped them with particular habitus.
The construct of sophistication was understood by the EM in terms of presentability, decency, and
sexuality. BM’s lack of sophistication, at a predictable level, was combined with their economic dif-
ficulty, and of course language (Bangla), to suggest that lack of money was linked to lack of taste:
Example 14
B.M = BNP (bostir nangta polapain) [naked slum kids]… […] .bostir theike uitha
ashche [all rising up from slums] (EMF38).
While the BM’s identification with the slum, which is very recurrent in the data, was effective for
identifying them as being incapable of ensuring decent and presentable living, tagging them with
nakedness made the association between poverty and decency/sophistication even more marked.
BM identity was strategically associated with lack of sophistication also by the lexical item
‘khat’ (pronounced as/khæt/) [unsophisticated] (EMF29, EMF77, EMK112) in the EM data.This
particular identity ingredient is significant because of the commonality of this othering discourse
in daily conversations, TV drama, newspapers, and social media like You Tube and Instagram,
reflected in research works on Bangladeshi MOI identity (e.g. Jahan, 2016; Sultana, 2014a, 2016).
Example 15
English Medium students are 10 times better than Bangla medium khat bostir polapains
[khat slum kids]!!!! (EMF112)
The word ‘khat’ in Bangla means uncultured, lame, rural, unsophisticated, and non-standard
(Sultana, 2016). It is a ‘lingo’ developed by the younger generations in Bangladesh to other a par-
ticular lifestyle and endow this lifestyle with a particular class identity. Use of the word ‘khat’ in
Example 11 aligned with this common perception of the word which is utilised as a character-
istic of the lower social class. The use of the word ‘khat’ thus spelled out the EM’s agency to pos-
ition the BM as their social class other (see Sultana in this Hanbooh) and also to specify the BM’s
lack of symbolic capital and habitus regarding taste, culture, and sophistication (Bourdieu, 1977).
In addition to reducing the BM to lack of sophistication, decency, and taste, the EM even went
as far as openly declaring that the BM should act like BM as if the BM own a specific derogatory
code of conduct with which the EM essentially disidentify:
Example 16
bangla medium er pola, bangla medium er motoi thaak. tor baap er jodi oi standarad hoito
toke ekta english medim skool e toke admit korai amader moto bhalo, smart kore tulte,
taile toke eirokom fokira skool e dito na [You BM guys, stay like BMs. If your parents had
that standard, aspired to get you admitted in an EM school to make you as good and smart
as us, they wouldn’t bother to send you to such beggar school]. (EMF131, my emphasis)
251
Iffat Jahan
Example 16 highlights how Bangla including BM education is associated with financial hardship,
low social class and low social status. This confirms that languages “frame […] [individuals’]
understanding of linguistic varieties and map those understandings onto people, events, and
activities that are significant to them” (Irvine & Gal, 2000, p. 35) to the point that the lan-
guage (here, Bangla) becomes a substitute of (low) social class. Such identifications also confirm
Bourdieu’s concepts of capital and habitus as being mixed ingredients of class identity.
Putting more complexity to the already complex BM-identity, the EM utilised the ingredient
of sexual deviation (in Bangladeshi context) to problematise their other’s social class identity. As
illustrated in Example 13, the EM go as far as openly challenging the BM’s social class as devoid
of taste, sophistication, and sexual ethics:
Example 17
u all suck big tym jst as much as ur fokirni schools…u all masterbate thnkin of ur
kamerbetis…. … sum of u are in luv wid rickshawalas….u fuckin Faggots….Homo-
sexual freaks [You all suck big time as much as your beggar schools… you all mastur-
bate thinking of your maidservants… some of you are in love with rickshaw (a cheap
vehicle) pullers … you fucking faggots, homosexual freaks]! (EMF37)
As seen in Example 17, the EM equated financial ability (‘beggar school’) and sexual behaviour
(e.g. ‘masturbate thinking of your maidservants’, ‘in love with rickshaw pullers’, ‘fucking Faggots’,
‘homosexual freaks’) with stigmatised lower social class.The BM’s alleged partners as belonging not
only to stigmatised sexuality group but also to low social classes depending on income and social
status ideologically implied that the BM, low income, low status, unethical sexuality, and perverted
sexual behaviour are all associated with one another (please see Jahan, 2016 for detailed discussion
on construction of negative sexuality of other by BM and EM). This representation demonstrates
how language and its owning/disowning are associated with social class constructions indicating a
suspicious and hateful social-class relationship in the MOI space in Bangladesh.
Conclusion
The analysis of the data presented in the chapter suggests how discursive construction of iden-
tity may transpire linguistic boundaries to merge with social dimensions such as social class.
Language, as examined, not only reflects and constructs identity but also ideologically substitutes
identity, implying that language is not limited to what it describes, addresses, informs, explains,
and interprets but also to what it stands for or substitutes. Therefore, Bangla and English, in the
Bangladeshi context, appear as substitutes of two distinct sets of identities defined by social class.
While material ingredients of social class are, in all likelihood, economic, such as affluence and
affordability, its socio-cultural dynamics are intricate which tend to invest on social propriety
as well as stigma in relation to aristocracy, sophistication, decency, presentability, and morality.
The social nexus of this research, as I illustrated, brings to the fore how language is expressed,
and identity/social class is enacted and ascribed based on social relationships. Society, thus, as
perceived in this research, is a domain within which language, identity, and social class are all
merged to the point where they all become ideologically one and substitute for one another.
This way my research affirms that language, social class, and identity are all different versions of
the same social representation confirming that together they embed and are embedded by society.
The identity dynamics that this research has illustrated has important implications at educa-
tional and policy levels. Students seem to bring their social world into their learning. As language
educators, we need to consider how these language and class ideologies may be handled to forge
252
social harmony and not to perpetuate social cleavages. From a policy perspective, language in
education planning such as the choice of MOI needs to be informed by social and socio-cultural
considerations. Creating a ‘third space’ (Bhabha, 2004) in education where EM and BM students
can interact, socialise, and experience learning together needs to be part of the policy agenda.
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16
‘KHAET’ (HICK) VS. ‘FAST’
AND THE CONSTRUCTION
OF OTHERS
Educational background and identification
of university students in Bangladesh
Shaila Sultana
Introduction
The Bangla word ‘khaet’ etymologically comes from ‘ksetra’, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘cultivated
land’. The identity attributes associated with ‘khaet’ has gained layers of meaning over the years in
the Bangladeshi social landscape. It is generally used by the urbanites for referring to people coming
from a ‘khet’/cultivated land/rural background/village, juxtaposing others from the city. They do
not know the manners of city life, since they come from a rural background. Because of their
locatedness in peripheral spaces, they are also incapable of speaking standard Bangla, the high variety,
but are more comfortable using the regional varieties of Bangla. Hence, they are generally identified
as ‘khaet’, ‘hick’, ‘uncultured’, and ‘uncivilised’, while the others are ‘cultured’ and ‘educated’.
Recently, ‘khaet’/hick, specifically with reference to the word ‘fast’, seems to have gained a
newer meaning in young adults’ language practices in Bangladesh, specifically with reference to
the English language and Bangla- and English-medium education systems (Sultana, 2016). In the
current linguistic scenario, English, once the language of the British coloniser, has immense socio-
cultural significances (Banu & Sussex, 2001). Officially, it does not have much social function as
such. However, English has become a symbol for economic advantages and improved life chances
for many (Hamid, 2015). Private companies prefer to employ university graduates with a higher
level of proficiency in English, legitimising its intrinsic and extrinsic values (A. Rahman, 2007). As
a result, private universities give immense importance to English and use it as a medium of instruc-
tion (Sultana, 2018b). The English-medium education, which is more expensive than the Bangla-
medium, has become a much-coveted education system for those who can/cannot afford it.
The chapter, therefore, intends to explore what ‘khaet’/‘hick’ and ‘fast’ mean when they
are used with reference to the Bangla- and English-medium education and unravel the socio-
economic and political and historical dynamics in post-colonial and bi/multilingual identity
attributes that young adults negotiate in Bangladesh. This gives insight into the role of English
in Bangladeshi society in terms of indexing prestige and various forms of capital. The research
is timely in the context of Bangladesh considering the historical and social significance and
the popularity of the English language and English-medium education. The chapter, conse-
quently, serves two purposes: on the one hand, it shows the way one single word may reflect
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the complexities involved in the identity construction in which others play a significant role;
on the other, it epitomises the ideological, historical, and social and cultural roles of the English
language and English-medium education in individual and collective performances of identities.
Overall, taking account of the Bangla word ‘khaet’ and the English word ‘fast’, and the intrinsic
and extrinsic values of English and immense popularity of the English-medium education in
Bangladesh, the chapter looks into the linguistic and pragmatic functions of English, identity
construction of young Bangladeshi adults, and its growing role in neoliberal polarisation.
The objectives of this chapter are to explore the following:
• the ways the word ‘khaet’ and ‘fast’ are used in language practices of young adults;
• the specific purposes these words play in their negotiation of identity.
The following section discusses the theoretical and the conceptual significance of others in the
construction of self.
Construction of others
The discursive construction of others is an important area of language and identity research. The
construction of others indicates in what ways social stratifications which are based on tangible
observable characteristics and social dynamics, such as skin colour, ethnicity, economic condi-
tion, competence in language, and demographic background, work at the abstract level to influ-
ence the social positioning of individuals. Ibrahim (2003, p. 52) has identified that the process of
‘becoming black’ is closely linked to the notion of others. With reference to his own experience
as an immigrant Sudanese in Canada and observations of a group of immigrant and refugee con-
tinental Francophone African youths in an urban French-language high school in southwestern
Ontario, Canada, he has observed that diverse African students are perceived as ‘black’ once they
arrive in North America, and that they then start to identify themselves as ones, adopting the
black language and culture. They enter a “social imaginary, a discursive space where they are
already imagined, constructed, and thus treated as ‘blacks’ by hegemonic discourses and groups,
respectively” (Ibrahim, 2003, p. 52). The discursive construction that these diverse African
students encounter on their arrival in North America influences the way they negotiate and
translate the social dynamics in the construction of “hybrid, temporal, and ambiguous African
identity as accepted in North America” (Ibrahim, 2003, p. 52).
Understanding the process underlying the construction of others also provides a more nascent
understanding of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ factors – why individuals aspire to speak like others while
tending to mock some and maintaining disassociation with others and in what ways they use
linguistic and other semiotic resources for these purposes. Even though the construction is based
on stereotypical linguistic and cultural assumptions, these assumptions are “deployed, contested,
and co-constructed” in interactions (Brandt & Jenks, 2011, p. 41). In other words, keeping
these imageries in mind, individuals tend to negotiate multiple positions and attributes of iden-
tification (Sultana, 2014b). These constructions are sometimes imagined, but are “intrinsic to
the creation and maintenance of individual and collective identities” (Grinshaw, 2010, p. 256).
A similar observation has been confirmed by a group of Greek Cypriots, whose mother tongues
are non-standard varieties, the Greek Cypriot Dialects (GCDs), and who in their everyday inter-
action use Standard Modern Greek (SMG), the official language of Greece and Cyprus and
the language of education and the media. They consider that linguistic features associated with
GCD are perceived as being less educated, of lower class, and less prestigious, when “SMG is
associated with education, professionalism, and modernity” (Papapavlou & Sophocleous, 2009,
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“Khaet” (Hick) vs. “Fast”
pp. 186–187). GCD speakers do not sound as polite as their SMG counterparts. Heavy GCD
speakers who employ a less formal style are associated with village life and little education. They
are also satirised in terms of their language and culture in the media. Characters from that specific
region are portrayed as regressive and pre-modern and are addressed with abject humiliation. In
general, these students also avoid the use of GCDs in their “attempt to maintain a positive social
identity” (Papapavlou & Sophocleous, 2009, p. 179).
The social construction of ‘us’ and ‘them’ is significantly important for exploring the conflicts
and contradictions that arise from the borrowing and appropriation of voices and linguistic and
cultural resources of others. A group of transgender people, ‘kotis’ in northern India, impersonate
another transgender group known as ‘hijras’, demonstrating class-based hostility to one another in
their parodic ‘hijra acting’. These ‘kotis’ enact their own class, identity, and desire with an inter-
textual reference to ‘otherness’, which is again linked to micro and macro social dynamics. “It
is through the intertextual parody of all that is not ‘koti’ that ‘kotis’ are able to assert a distinctive
sexuality for themselves” (Hall, 2005, p. 141).
In addition, the presence of others does not mean that language and identities emerge according
to a stereotypical representation of groups only or it is the source of conflicts and contradictions
only. First, as Jenks, Bhatia, and Lou (2013, p. 121) with reference to the research of Jackson (2011)
have stated, “the perceptions of self and others are in a continuous state of negotiation and even
stereotypical assumptions of cultural practices are infinitely expandable by interactants”. It has also
been observed that Chinese students, in a Western Anglophone university, in their styling of the
Occidental Other, demonstrate both “structural determinism and agentive voluntarism” (Grinshaw,
2010, p. 254). Second, just as there are boundaries, there are also motivations to cross these bound-
aries with reference to linguistic, cultural, or ethnic others. Consequently, the construction of others
can be a means to transgression and emancipation, just as it can be a way to division and oppression
(Ang, 2003). Grimshaw (2010, p. 243), with reference to his observation of Chinese-speaking
students in international evenings and debate contexts, has observed that these students are involved
in the act of crossing and styling, with the “selective and playful appropriation of the discourses of
the Other”. On the basis of his observation of these students’ discursive struggles and transculturation
and negotiation of hybrid identities and conflicting subjectivities, he has drawn the conclusion that,
in today’s globalised cultural environment, “the compression of time and space that characterises the
late modernity offers ever greater possibilities for interacting with new ‘Others’ and creating of new
‘Selves’” (Grinshaw, 2010, p. 256). In fact, because of globalisation and technological advancements,
the cultural boundaries that were once binary and divergent have become blurred.
The construction of other also creates opportunities for individuals to create alternative realities
and imagined subjectivities associated with ‘imagined communities’. They may engage in imi-
tative language play and the creative and aesthetic use of language associated with the imagined
community. Kramsch (2006) has suggested that languages have referential and mythical values for
multilingual adolescents and young adults who learn a foreign or second language. They “occupy
an embodied, socially and culturally inflected third place in language, filled with memories of other
languages and fantasies of other identities” and consequently, their desire to be someone else is
fulfilled (Kramsch, 2006, p. 97). The perceived ‘imagined community’ allows them to actualise
the fantasies they have regarding the self and the other. In summary, based on the discussion given
above, it may be concluded that this constructed sense of the individual (going beyond linguistic
or ethnic ways of being) is fruitful in understanding in what ways individuals use language to
approximate the imagined ways of being and negotiate identity in relation to those ways of being.
These findings are relevant to the research presented in this chapter because the sense of
othering has been noted in other research studies in Bangladesh too. A questionnaire survey of
115 students and interviews with students from three private and two public universities explored
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the effect of the medium of instruction on the academic discourses and socialisation experiences
of first-year students in universities of Bangladesh, and its effects on their identity and chances of
learning. The data illustrated that English as the medium of instruction exacerbated inequalities
between students according to their linguistic capital in English and symbolic capital. The inad-
equacy of different forms of linguistic and symbolic capital in students coming from Bangla-medium
schools and colleges, specifically from those at semi-urban and rural parts of Bangladesh, posed a
major challenge on them in negotiating their identity and power relations in the English-medium
classroom. For these students, unlike their peers from English-medium schools, the language of
instruction led them to perceive themselves as being deficient. They felt that they were systematic-
ally excluded from the classroom. Thus, the English-medium instruction severely impeded on their
learning and the development of their identity. The paper concluded with a discussion of the findings
which implied the need for a more in-depth research in the higher education of Bangladesh (Sultana,
2014a). That is why it seems that the construction of ‘khaet’ and ‘fast’ may provide a more nascent
understanding of the division and marginalisation observable in the higher education.
Research design
In 2011, a three-month long ethnographic study was conducted at the University of Excellence in
the cosmopolitan city of Dhaka, Bangladesh.1 The study included observations, casual face-to-face
conversations, virtual conversations on Facebook, interviews, and focus-group discussions (FGDs).
Twenty-nine participants from a number of different departments volunteered to take part in the
research. These participants were interviewed in two or three sessions that were conducted in
either Bangla or English, based on the participants’ preference. They also took part in FGDs, in
which they were asked about their general feelings about the comments made by the participants
in individual interview sessions. Around 41 hours of interview data and 6 hours of FGDs were
recorded and transcribed, and selected sections were translated. Because of the length of the paper,
only a set of data from FGD are given which, on the one hand, showed the specific use of the word
‘khaet’ and ‘fast’ by the participants, and on the other hand, are expected to express the collective
feeling of the participants. English words used by the participants in their interviews and FGDs
are presented in bold. IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is used, when and where necessary.
The main analytical concept used in this chapter for analysing the data drawn from the interviews
and FGD was positioning, extensively used by Pavlenko (2007). The process of positioning unravels how
individuals situate and construct their subjectivities in their narratives, and how they position others as
a result. In addition, according to Pavlenko (2001, p. 322), the process of self-positioning is “closely
linked to the ways in which dominant ideologies of language and identity position the narrators and to
ways in which the narrators internalize or resist these positionings”. Two approaches are mentioned for
positioning: reflexive positioning (how narrators situate themselves) and interactive positioning (how
narrators describe others). These approaches provide a deeper understanding of the socio-cultural and
ideological dynamics that impact on individual feeling of association and dissociation with others.
Pavlenko (2007, pp. 179–180) analysed the representation of selves from five specific angles: (1)
the ways participants position themselves as interlocutors, narrators, or characters, that is, speaker
roles; (2) participants’ references to other social actors (e.g. rural/urban/English-medium), that
is, denotational characterisations; (3) speakers’ descriptions of the verbal actions of others, that
is, metapragmatic descriptors; (4) participants’ interpretations of others’ speech (e.g. direct vs.
indirect), that is, use of a quotation; and (5) the status participants give to the events described
relative to the event of speaking, that is,epistemic modalisation.
The data collected from participants’ interviews and FGDs are analysed based on the
frameworks of representation of self and construction of others (Figure 16.1).
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Figure 16.1 Schematic representation of selves
Findings and discussions

Two groups of students from the Bangla and English-medium education took part in the FGDs.
The purpose of the FGD was to identify participant’s attitude towards different languages used
in Bangladesh. The section has been selected for the unsolicited repeated use of the word ‘khaet’
by both the groups. The sections also explain how the specific word allows two groups of
participants to position themselves against each other.
The ‘khaet’ vs. ‘fast’others: aktu pha:st [They are a bit pha:st (fast).]
Saud, Jasmine, Saima, Imran, and Tomal are BBA students. While Imran and Tomal were born
and raised in Dhaka, Saud, Jasmine, and Saima were born and have been brought up in small
suburbs in Kushtia, Narsingdi, and Comilla. Jasmine is the first one in her family to leave the
native suburb for higher education and study at a university in Dhaka. However, in an interview,
she mentions that she is not at ease with the English language and has problems in understanding
lectures and question-and-answer sessions in class, and she struggles with exams conducted in
English. Because of her upbringing in a conservative religious environment with little exposure
to entertainment or popular culture, she identifies herself as an ‘outsider’ in the ‘progressive’
environment of the university. Saima also considers herself to be lacking competence in English
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and often feels helpless when she is pursuing a university course which has a large number of
English-medium students. She feels that both the teachers and students marginalise Bangla-
medium students in classroom practices (Sultana, 2014a). These experiences have made her more
determined to improve her English.
In this FGD, these participants who went to Bangla-medium schools share their opinions
about students from the English-medium education system. The transcription guide is given at
the end of the chapter.
FGD 1 (071211)2
Language guide: Bangla – regular font; English – bold
Transcription Translation
1. Saud ((English-medium students)) manush They ((English-medium students)) are totally

hishebei totally different. different as human beings.
2. Jasmine oderke dekhlei bujhte pari. oder shathe We can identify them right away. I do talk to
kotha boli, kintu friendly achoron them ((English-medium students)), but I
hoina arki. don’t feel friendly towards them.
3. Shaila Languager jonnoi ei differenceta feel Is it only because of the language that you feel
korchho? yourself different from them?
4. Saud ora ektu western cultureer dike jhok. They are a bit inclined towards Western culture.
5. Jasmine ektu pha:st. They are a bit pha:st ((fast)).
6. Saima amader theke aktu, mane, pha:st. They are a bit pha:st ((faster)) than us, I mean,
fa:st.
7. Tomal Oneki fast thake. Drinks kore. In fact, very fast. They drink ((drinking here
refers to the consumption of alcohol)).
8. Imran amra jamon beshir bhagi conservative. While most of us are conservative, they are not
ora oto conservative na. that much conservative.
9. Shaila fast bolle; conservative na bolle. tomra You have mentioned that they are fast; they are
ki bujhao ei shobdo gula diye? not conservative. What do you mean by these
words?
10. Saima onek shomoi dekha galo, amra kothao It often happens that our family does not
ghurte jabo friend circle theke. amader allow us to go out with friends. They
basha theke jamon dibena. oder dekha ((English-medium students)), both boys and
galo, meye chhele ak shathe ghurte girls together, are going out. Their families
chole jaitese. oder family theke kichhu have no reservations about it. We don’t even
boltese na. amra nijerai jawar kotha dare to ask our parents. We are afraid of our
bolina. familyr bhoye. kijabo? ora family. How will we go? They have lots of
friendder niye onek party tarty kortese. parties with their friends. We do not attend
amader oi rokom hoina. these sorts of parties.
11. Tomal raterje barbeque party tarty hoi na, You know about the evening barbeque parties
oder basha theke kono dini allow korbe ((in the university)). Her ((Saima’s)) parents
na. amar basha thekeo allow korbe na. will never allow her to attend these parties.
Neither will my parents.
12. Saima amrao aunty jabona. rater bela. Aunty, we wouldn’t want to go to these
evening parties either.
13. Tomal ora ashole chhoto bela thekei oi rokom They have grown up in this kind of culture.
cultureer shathe obhhosto. amra shei They are used to it. We are not used to this
rokom cultuerer shathe obhhosto na. kind of culture. Some of us shift from our
koek jon dekha jai je amader culture culture to their culture. But many cannot. I
theke oder culturee shift korte pare. But could, for example, for 50%–50%. Anik for
onekei pare na. ami jamone 50%–50%. 50%–50%. But we can never be 100% like
Anik 50%–50%. But 100% oder moto them in our attitude.
attitude hobe na.
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In line 1, Saud mentions that the students from the English-medium education are distinctly
different as human beings. Before Saud may extend on the comment, Jasmine takes the turn
in line 2. She adds ‘dekhlei bojha jai’ [we can identify them right away], indicating the role of
gesture and posture and clothes that demonstrate their academic background. In line 2, Jasmine
also comments on the overall attitude of these students which does not allow them to be friendly
with them. The speakers’ roles that they take here and the denotational characterisations that they
give to English-medium students resemble the research undertaken by Sultana (2014a) discussed
in detail previously. It is not only the linguistic background that sets them apart from each other.
Here, Bourdieu’s (1992) notion of habitus may be mentioned.
Habitus makes speakers speak according to the society to which they belong to. The dispositions
which form habitus become structured in them by the social condition in which speakers acquire
them. Hence, the dispositions in people are similar and different according to their class, that is,
the social milieu to which speakers belong. Moreover, these dispositions are durable, as they
develop through the life of speakers and hence, not easily modifiable. Habitus develops in speakers
le sens pratique, that is, the sense that tells speakers how to act and respond in certain situations
of daily life. Individuals with appropriate habitus have “a practical sense or ‘feel’ for the game”
(Thompson, 1992, p. 17), and without the feel, they will be ‘outsiders’. Both students in FGD 1
and FGD 2 (given below) feel that they do not share the dispositions of certain social class
attributes and this creates a friction amongst them.
The feeling of ‘otherness’ is caused not only by the language, according to the reply given
in line 3. In line 4, Saud identifies English-medium students’ inclination towards the Western
culture as the cause of differences and dissociation too. Here, in lines 5 and 6, Jasmine and
Saima further explain these students’ denotational characterisations. Jasmine uses the word ‘fast’. While
Jasmine and Saima show politeness by using a hedge, ‘aktu’ (a bit), in line 7, Tomal corrects them
by emphasising ‘oneki’ (in fact, a lot) and giving evidence to prove his statement. The word ‘fast’,
in these participants’ discursive realisation, intertextually refers to an array of meanings related to a
specific kind of lifestyle. According to Tomal, students from the English-medium background are
‘fast’ because they drink. In other words, they do not follow the basic instruction of Islam in which
alcohol is strictly prohibited. Thus, according to FGD 1, ‘fast’ refers to the Western way of life
(which is also an imagined construction) (line 4) and liberal attitude to religion (line 7).
The epistemic modalisation of events is also observable with reference to ‘fast’. The word
suggests inclination towards the new youth urban culture of parties and barbecues (lines 10 and
11), which again intertextually refers to customs and practices coming from the West (line 3);
in other words, to actively indulge in a non-traditional lifestyle, alcohol consumption (line 7),
and free mixing between male and female friends (line 10). Fast also refers to an extravagant
life of financially well-off English-medium students since alcohol and parties require financial
affordances. The literal meaning of ‘fast’ – moving or capable of moving at high speed – is
localised to mean modernisms, urbanism, and affluency. To put it simply, the construction of
‘us’ and ‘them’ is based not only on the education background but, also on the amount and
nature of symbolic and economic capital of these students (cf. Bourdieu, 1992).
The difference between us and them, in fact, becomes amplified by individual socioeconomic
background, illustrated in the epistemic modalisation of an event narrated in an interview of Tomal.
baparta dukkho jonok hoileo shotti. ora hotath kore chole ashtese FFCte. dosh barota chicken
leg khaitese. noshto kortese. ar amader akta chicken ((a piece)) khaitei jan bair hoya jai… ar
amar moneybag faita jaitese, akta chicken ((a piece)) khaite [This is hurtful, but true. They
((students from the English-medium background)) come to FFC ((fast food joint))
whenever they want, order 10 to 12 chicken legs and leave the food unfinished. They
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Shaila Sultana
can afford to waste the food, whereas we need to think twice before we order even
one piece … I really have to count my money carefully ((in the moneybag)) to order
just one piece].
(Tomal, 071211)
Tomal adds comments on the attitude of English-medium students which, according to him,
is influenced by their affluence: chorom bhab mare ora [they show off a lot] (071211). Thus,
the differences between the lifestyles and attitudes of Bangla and English-medium students are
shown as the outcomes of individual socio-economic background of students.
In lines 10 and 11, both Saima and Tomal construct the image of families and comment on the
parenting style of these families through the epistemic modalisation. According to them, the families
of English-medium students give more freedom and allow them to attend parties and mix with
boys/girls. In line 11, barbeque parties held at night index a prohibited lifestyle not endorsed by
Saima and Tomal. Hence, in line 12, Saima rushes to add that they are not interested in parties held
at night, instantly disassociating themselves from others. With references to these students from the
English-medium background and their families, these research participants construct their families
and themselves as ‘conservative’, less outgoing, and traditional in opposition to those who are ‘fast’.
The pronunciation of ‘fast’ is also a marker of difference between two groups. Some Bangla
speakers (cf. FGD 1, lines 5 and 6) find pronouncing/f/challenging. They tend to approxi-
mate the sound with the aspirated plosive/ph/of Bangla (Hoque, 2011). Bangladeshis with
limited exposure to spoken English or because of the interference and influence of their regional
variety of Bangla tend to replace/f/with the Bangla phoneme/pʰ/and, hence, the phoneme
approximates as the aspirated bilabial plosive rather than the labiodental fricative/f/. This limi-
tation is known across the society, and hence students from the English medium education
background mimic it with an exaggerated stylised pronunciation, substituting/f/with/ph/and
elongating the single vowel/a/(cf. lines 9, 12, and 13, FGD 2).
Social imageries enable the participants to navigate what and how they want to be with refer-
ence to these imageries and their sense of others. They provide an “indispensable memory and
experiential site from which to translate and hence negotiate the new geo-cultural-and-linguistic
space” (Ibrahim, 2003, p. 64). For example, in line 13, Tomal refers to culture as lifestyle,
giving insights into his own speaker’s role. According to Tomal, his 50% adoption of their culture
means that he now has female friends, with whom he spends time, attends parties, or visits FFC.
Because of the association of English-medium education with the Dhaka-centric imagined com-
munity, the participants try to emulate urban, modern, educated, and Dhaka-centric identity
attributes. Thus, within the social imaginary of different types of others and everyday realisation
of different facets of otherness, they position themselves in the social landscape.
These social imageries are mobilised into the process of identity formation and become the
reference point for the construction of ‘us’. Ibrahim (1999, p. 365) stated with reference to
the experiences of migrant continental Francophone African youths, “To become Black is to
become an ethnographer who translates and looks around in an effort to understand what it
means to be Black in Canada”. Similarly, these participants become ethnographers and tend to
approximate an identity that is situated and shaped by the presence of English-medium students
in the context of a private university in Bangladesh. They exert their agency in order to min-
imise the marginalisation they face and tend to adapt identity attributes that apparently do not
belong to them. According to line 13, Tomal’s identity is no longer “inherited or acquired”
(Bauman, 2001, p. 129) from his educational background. That is why Bauman (2001) has
suggested replacing the term ‘identity’, with ‘identification’, which from his point of view, has
more of the essence of the realities of the globalising world, “a never-ending, always incomplete,
262
unfinished and open-ended activity in which we all, by necessity or by choice, are engaged”.
Hall (1989, p. 22) has also stated, “We have now to reconceptualise identity as a process of iden-
tification … It is something that happens over time, that is, never absolutely stable…”. Line 13
indicates these participants’ identification in transition and emergence.
In summary, the educational background is invested with layers of meaning and the repeated use
of ‘they’/‘them’ shows the clear separation between the groups. As language seemed to be used to
differentiate between the ‘civilised’ and ‘uncivilised’ and between the demographic backgrounds
of lower and higher classes (Sultana, 2016), the medium of education observed here also group
individuals according to their socioeconomic background and lifestyle (Sultana, 2014a).
The ‘khaet’ vs. ‘fast’others: ‘shobgula khaet typer’ [‘They are the hick type’]:
FGD 2 reflects the discussion with participants from an English-medium educational background.
Luna, a student and Teaching Assistant (TA) in the English department, and Vice-President of the
English Club, comes from Sylhet. Even though she was not born and brought up in Dhaka, she
does not feel disadvantaged like other participants who come from outside the city. Because of her
locatedness in the upper echelon of society, her affluent upbringing and privileged education in the
English-medium education, she has had the opportunity to develop a varied linguistic repertoire.
Ria, a student and TA in the English department and an executive member of the English Club, has
lived in Dhaka all her life. A fluent speaker of English, Ria studied in a prestigious English-medium
school in Dhaka, and mentions the agency that she has developed as a result of opportunities she
has had in life in terms of accessing world culture through satellite TV and the Internet. FGD 2 also
indicates that Luna and Ria depend on English more for expressing their opinions.
FGD 2 (081811)
Language guide: Bangla – regular font; English – bold
Transcription Translation
1. Luna puratai alada. oder ((students from Bangla- They ((students from Bangla-medium
medium schools)) characteristics different. schools)) are totally different from us. Their
tara different. So usually what happens characteristics are different. They are
– ki hoi – Bangla-medium theke hoile dakha different. So usually you know what
jai je ora aktu … happens – those who come from the
Bangla-medium background are a bit…
2. Ria Reserved. Reserved.
3. Luna They have their own style, own jokes – They have their own style, own jokes – we
jegula amra relate korte parina. Maybe, they can’t relate to these jokes. Maybe, they will
will crack jokes about guys which we crack jokes about guys which we will find
will find lame. And maybe we will crack lame. And maybe we will crack jokes to
jokes jeta ora relate korte parbena. which they can’t relate.
4. Ria They can’t relate. They can’t relate.
5. Luna Maybe they watch more Hindi movies. Maybe they watch more Hindi movies.
Maybe we watch more English movies. Maybe we watch more English movies.
And that matters. ei typer. shob kichhu. And that matters. These differences
do exist.
6. Luna …. That’s the general concept ((about)) the …. That’s the general concept ((about)) the
English-medium people. They are the English-medium people. They are the ones
ones considered as snobs and upper class. considered as snobs and upper class. Like,
Like, people call them upper class people call them upper class bitches. We
bitches. ar Bangla-mediumer bapare amader also have assumptions about the students
aktu dharona ase. “shobgula khaet typer”. from the Bangla-medium. “They are the
hick type”.
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Shaila Sultana
7. Ria And moreover, like, they, like, the things And moreover, like, they, like, the things we
we are liking, they are disliking them as are liking, they are disliking them as well.
well. Like, the same thing, the same Like, the same thing, the same attitude
attitude toward the Bangla serials, Hindi toward the Bangla serials, Hindi serials that
serials that we have, they have the same we have, they have the same attitude
attitude toward, like, English movies. toward, like, English movies.
8. Luna And even like in relationship and And even like in relationship and
everything. They have the tendency of, everything. They have the tendency of, for
dhoren, they will still go out. They will example, they will still go out. They will
talk over the phone with two or three talk over the phone with two or three
guys. But they will not admit it. They guys. But they will not admit it. They will
will say, like “eita bhalona. na, ami eibhabe say, like “This is not good. No, I don’t do
korina. poribar theke jai”. Maybe, I may not this. We have gone out with the family”.
talk with two three guys, I mean, Maybe, I may not talk with two three guys,
specially, but I will say, mane, karo shathe oi I mean, specially, but I will say, “ha, I go
bhabe specially, but ami bolbo, “ha, I go out out with a guy I like”. I will say it openly. I
with a guy I like”. Openly bolbo. amake will be perhaps considered as rude. I am
consider kora hobe ami hoito aktu rude. I more Western, rude. I am not modest.
am more Western, rude. bhadrota janina.
9. Ria Pha::st. Pha::st.
10. Luna Inconsiderate. Inconsiderate.
11. Ria They use this word. They use this word.
12. Luna Ha, they use this word “pha::st”. Ph-A- Ha, they use this word “pha::st” ((fast)). Ph-
S-T. We are pha::st pipol ((fast people)). A-S-T. We are pha::st pipol ((fast people)).
We … We …
13. Ria Bulbul Sir ((a teacher from the Bulbul Sir ((a teacher from the department))
department)) has a joke for this. He says, has a joke for this. He says, “Oh, I am not
“Oh, I am not feeling pha::st today. I am feeling pha::st ((fast)) today. I am not
not pha::sting today. I am quite slow”. pha::sting ((fasting)) today. I am quite slow”.
((they break into laughter)). ((they break into laughter)).
14. Luna eije ei typer. Even classroom discussione. Yes, this is their type. For example, in
literature hoitho sex and everything ashlo. literature classes, we don’t repel ((shy away
amra hoitho repel kortesina. ora classe oi from)) discussions on sex. They do not
bhabe discuss kore na. so they feel je ei participate in the discussion, as if we are
meyegula onek arrogant. the arrogant ((least inhibited)) ones.
15. Ria They don’t have the psychology as I said They don’t have the psychology as I said
before. They are not; they don’t before. They are not; they don’t
incorporate whatever is Western. You incorporate whatever is Western.You have
have to be Eastern. Like, you know, to be Eastern. Like, you know, anything
anything just not, does not, like, confine just not, does not, like, confine to anything
to anything outside the box, anything outside the box, anything that talks about
that talks about sexuality, anything that sexuality, anything that borders, like, umm,
borders, like, umm, border like, crossing border like, crossing the religion, that is
the religion, that is bad. That is not bad. That is not acceptable.
acceptable.
The differences in lifestyle associated with the students from Bangla- and English-medium educa-
tional backgrounds, as portrayed by both groups are distinctly similar and again polarised. It is similar
in the sense that both the groups assign certain denotational characteristics to each other. It is different
in the sense that both the groups assign extremely distinct and opposing character attributes to each
other. While in line 1, FGD 1, Saud identifies English-medium students as ‘alada’ [different], in line
1, FGD 2, Luna uses the word ‘different’ to identify the students from the Bangla-medium back-
ground. She identifies their characteristics differently too. In line 2, Ria adds to her comment by
defining what the ‘characteristics’ actually suggest – students from the Bangla-medium background
are ‘reserved’. In line 3, Luna further teases out what she has meant by ‘oder characteristics different. tara
264
different’ [They are totally different from us. Their characteristics are different. They are different.].
According to Luna, students from Bangla- and English-medium education backgrounds have dis-
tinctly different tastes from each other in terms of style, jokes, and attitudes towards men. In line 4,
Ria states that students from the English-medium schools cannot relate to the style or jokes of those
from the Bangla-medium schools. Thus, both groups take up specific speakers’ roles in the FGDs.
Line 5, FGD 2, shows that the construction of others is intricately associated with ideologies,
assigned meanings, and the implicit hierarchies that exist between Bangla and Hindi (the national
language of the neighbouring country, India) and English entertainment. Note that Hindi, seems
to occupy a very stable, and yet precarious position in the context of Bangladesh. Certain popular
discourses consider Hindi and Indian entertainment as threats to Bangla and Bangladeshi culture
(Dovchin, Pennycook, & Sultana, 2017). In addition, Indian entertainment does not have the
same status as the Western, Japanese, or Korean entertainment. Because of the implicit hier-
archies socially associated with entertainment, the participants have discussions about the Japanese
manga and Korean drama very often, but deliberately avoid the discussion on Hindi entertainment
(Sultana & Dovchin, 2015). Even when the research participants do use Hindi or talk about Hindi
entertainment, they make it clear that it is the lightness or sheer buffoonery of the language that
encourages them to use linguistic and cultural resources from the Hindi entertainment industry. In
their imagination, they associate Hindi with ‘others’ who are not as classy or educated as those who
favour English entertainment. In line 5, FGD 2, Luna also sustains the ideologies associated with
Indian entertainment which is socially stigmatised. The source of entertainment becomes enriched
with ideologically infused meanings afforded through local and contextual realities of Bangladesh.
Line 5, FGD 2, indicates that the construction of the self and others is also achieved with the
construction of differences, with an assignment of opposing meanings to self and others. Based
on the acceptability of different popular culture, imageries associated with popular culture and
own preferences for English entertainment, Luna pragmatically accentuates the elite identifi-
cation of English-medium students. Their preferred engagement with English entertainment
requires advanced competence in English, which derives in part from going to expensive English
medium schools. Her reference to English movies also suggests her easy access to resources, such
as computers, TVs, and other digital means, which allows her to learn, synthesise, and acquire
diverse linguistic and cultural resources. Thus, engagement with English entertainment also
indicates Luna’s association with the English-medium background and affordance of a com-
fortable life style, mobility through different social landscapes, and deliberate and materialistic
display of a privileged social class (cf. Dovchin, Sultana, & Pennycook, 2016; Sultana, 2018a, b).
In lines 6, 8, and 13, direct quotations are used by participants which work as metapragmatic
descriptors, highlighting the perceived differences between students from different education
backgrounds. In line 6, she mentions the popular image of Bangla-medium students as ‘khaet’and
their image, by contrast, as ‘snobs’ and ‘upper-class bitches’. Here, as well, the socio-economic
background seems to play a vital role in constructing the image of us and them. In addition, she
refers to their acceptance of Bangla-medium students as hypocrites and deceitful, contrasting
the image of the English-medium students as ‘rude’ and ‘Western’. Luna’s honesty about her
relationship with male counterparts is not accepted by Bangla-medium students. In lines 9, 10,
and 14, Ria and Luna add more of their observations about their acceptance of the Bangla-
medium students’ perception of the English-medium students as ‘fast’, ‘inconsiderate’, and ‘arro-
gant’. Here, ‘rude’, ‘inconsiderate’, and ‘arrogant’ intertextually refer to the fact that they are
not respectful of the norms of Bangladeshi culture which discourages open discussions about
sexuality of men–women relationship. The English-medium education seems to allow them to
dissociate themselves from the traditional image of young women in Bangladesh and portray
themselves, at least in their discourses, as less inhibited and honest in terms of relationships.
265
Shaila Sultana
The banglicisation of the English words fast with an exaggerated stylised pronunciation is a
metapragmatic descriptor. The substitution of /f/with/ph/and elongation of the single vowel/a/in
lines 9, 12, and 13, FGD 2 resembles the way it is pronounced by the participants in FGD 1, in
lines 5 and 6. In line 12, this distinct stylisation becomes obvious in the mild exaggeration of pro-
nunciation, usually not observable in Luna’s spoken English. /fɑːst/becomes/pha:st/and/ˈpiːp(ə)
l/becomes/pIpɒl/. In line 13, Ria refers to the joke made about these students by the teacher
too. This is a collective acceptance of less status given to speakers who have problems pro-
nouncing the English phoneme/f/. The pronunciation is the stylisation of Bangladeshi English
speakers. The deliberate stress and elongation of the words indicates these participants’ intention
of making their ‘crossing’ salient compared to the other dialogues of the conversation. Even the
teacher participates in sustaining the imageries by the pronunciation (FGD 2, lines 13). Their
deliberate banglicisation of English makes their language very much heteroglossic (cf. Bakhtin,
1981). By showing that certain English pronunciation as ‘marked’ for a specific group of people,
they seem to capitalise on the unaccepted norm of English pronunciation and jocularly take up
the voice of those who are “socially evaluated as deviations from a norm and, indeed, … fail to
measure up to an implied or explicit standard” (Bucholtz & Hall, 2004, p. 372). Consequently,
they distance themselves from a ‘marked identity’ of the Bangla-medium students because the
“marked identities are ideologically associated with marked language: linguistic structures or
practices that differ from the norm” (Bucholtz & Hall, 2004, p. 372).
The ‘khaet’(rustic) way of speaking English and ‘othering’ also constitute a social process of
identification within a class-based society (Rampton, 2013). Their imagined other, the students
from Bangla-medium background, as typified in their interaction, are strongly stereotyped and
seem to be a negative point of reference, with which they do not associate their own and
their friends’ identity. For these participants, ‘bad pronunciation’ represents less education, little
exposure to English, and situatedness in the lower echelon of society. By contrast, ‘good pro-
nunciation’ indexes better education, extensive exposure to English, specifically through school,
and situatedness in the upper echelon of society, specifically that in the urban setting, signifying
a privileged identity (cf. Bourdieu, 1992). They are considered to be open-minded students
who are very much at ease in English literature classes (line 14, FGD 2). In line 15, hence, it
is mentioned that Bangla-medium students are psychologically different, ‘Eastern’, conserva-
tive about sex and religion, and they fail to think out of the box or cross the boundaries set by
their Eastern values. Ria’s opportunity and agency in being flexible in terms of identity take her
beyond the grip of ‘Eastern’ control. The participants consider themselves transformed because
of their locatedness in the global culture. Overall, the stylistic heteroglossia, epistemic modalisation
of events and references to their attitudes and beliefs provide an in-depth understanding of how
young adults use language to negotiate attributes of identification.
Luna and Ria entertain themselves with banglicised English (lines 12 and 13), but they
contribute to ‘a local instantiation of a societal linguicism’ (Talmy, 2008, p. 169). They
reinforce linguistic purity by mocking those who struggle to pronounce ‘fast’ appropriately.
Thus, a matrix of forces – their intentions, beliefs, and unconscious linguistic ideology
– indicates the necessity of looking beyond the linguistic structures. The multiple voices
expressed in English and Bangla enable participants to negotiate different attributes of iden-
tity in relation to their linguistic, education, and social class. When participants opt for
language stylisation and crossing, they do it against preconceived notions of how to act
according to linguistic, educational, and socio-economic class (Sultana, 2014b, 2016). Their
imagined other, for example, the ‘khaet’ Bangla-medium students, as typified in their inter-
action, are stereotyped and seem to be a negative point of reference, with which they can
define their own and their friends’ identities.
266
With the pronunciation, the imaginary becomes even more concrete: Bangla-medium
students are ‘khaet’ because they are incapable of pronouncing English words properly. By
contrast, according to FGD 2, ‘khaet’ (line 6) refers to a specific group of people who are
conservative or reserved (line 1), indulge in unpalatable lame jokes (line 3), watch more
Hindi and Bangla films and TV serials than they, who prefer English movies and TV dramas
(lines 5 and 7), and are pretentious and hypocritical in their lifestyle, that is, they pretend to
maintain a traditional way of life, when in reality they have relationships with the opposite
sex (lines 8 and 15), are inhibited and restrained in the classroom (line 15), judgmental and
prejudiced (lines 8, 9, 10, and 14), and backward in thinking (lines 15 and 18). The ‘khaet’
students are also conservative and reserved as they do not participate in classroom discussions
in literature classes when topics like sex arise (line 14) and they tend to adhere to a perceived
understanding of Eastern rather than Western religious values (line 16); they are not ready to
cross the boundaries imposed by a relatively widely perceived notion of the Eastern culture
and religion. Their choice becomes a political act because the imageries that start with the
educational background, a static marker, do not remain tied to education per se. The educa-
tional background becomes a marker of progressiveness or regressiveness. The construction
of us and them based on the educational background also becomes a way to segregate and
divide people.
Overall, with an awareness of the perceived differences based on linguistic and demographic
backgrounds and socio-economic class, some participants thus engage in the othering pro-
cess, when some others who are being othered experience “the bumpy road of (re)translation
and negotiation”, indicating that the movement from one geo-cultural and linguistic space to
another complicates the process of negotiation of identity. This also demonstrates the “com-
plexity and difficulty of displaced identity formation processes” (Ibrahim, 2003, p. 67).
Conclusion
Based on analysis of the data, the chapter reveals that individual interpretation and use of
‘khaet’ and ‘fast’ are intricately intertwined with the historical, political, and ideological roles
of languages, and individual life trajectories, particularly educational, linguistic and socio-
economic backgrounds, nature of exposure to linguistic and cultural resources, and mobility in
space. These factors work as reference points for individuals’ sense of association and disasso-
ciation with ‘khaet’ and ‘fast’ which in turn influences how they perceive and position them-
selves. However, their perception and interpretation of the word seem highly polarised and
stereotyped, reflecting a sense of binary distinction. Based on these polarised understandings of
others, they construct their own sense of self.
The binary polarisation is vital to their self-projection and identity construction: on the one
hand, it is ontological to the way they work out sameness and difference in their negotiation
of identity; and on the other hand, it allows them opportunities of discursive reconstruction of
their own sense of self. In other words, even though the binary positioning apparently reflects,
sustains, and nurtures collective normativity of the society, it is significantly important in
understanding individual agency in working out ways of these normative social structures
and perceptions, exclusion, and othering. In addition, the discursive construction of others,
the sameness and difference, or inclusivity and exclusivity is significantly important for young
adults’ self-projections of identity. In summary, even though these constructions are apparently
the product of the imagination and are abstract, stereotypical, and restricted, they nevertheless
instigate a process in which individuals actively engage with these reference points for negoti-
ating their own identities.
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Shaila Sultana
Future research
On the basis of the findings of the chapter, I foresee the need for further research studies at both the
micro and macro level. With a process-oriented approach to identity, that is, how identity is performed
discursively at the grass-roots level, specifically in everyday language practices, future research studies
will, on the one hand, promote a better understanding of the individual, collective, spatial, and temporal
realisation of identity and the mechanisms used by young adults in the reconstruction of identity. On
the other hand, further research will reveal the politics, if any, behind the overwhelmingly and over-
powering class-based structures and discourses prevalent in the context of Bangladesh.
From the discussion above, it can be seen that English as the medium of instruction in univer-
sities in Bangladesh is creating a complex web of relations among students’ socialisation in aca-
demia, their participation in classroom activities, power negotiation, and identity (cf. also Hamid
& Jahan, 2015). The disparities and differences between public and private education systems and
the social dynamic of othering in constructing social stratification and hierarchies have already
been identified by Hamid (2015), Hamid and Jahan (2015), Imam (2005), A. Rahman (2007),
S. Rahman (2009), and Sultana (2016). Nevertheless, the scenario of language management at
the national level has not changed in Bangladesh, illustrating the commonly found disjuncture
between academic research, policy-making, and practices whereby scant attention is paid to the prac-
tical implications of the findings, with policy-makers and stake-holders being more interested in the
implementation of policies than their viability and evaluation. It is necessary for academics to take
bolder steps to make students’ voice audible to policy-makers and the government. A research study
with a greater effort to bring academics and policy-makers onto the same platform in the context of
Bangladesh would be beneficial.
There is scope to address more of the issues raised by Block (2013) in longitudinal ethnographic
studies; for example, to what extent are individuals capable of reproducing or transforming the
existing socio-cultural order? In what ways do they engage with the socio-cultural order so that
their historically embedded and individually embodied habitus may change as a result of the new
experience? I am looking forward to future research addressing these questions.
Transcription guide
: Elongation
((.)) Paralinguistic features and situational descriptions
… Texts omitted
CAPS Loud and emphatic utterances
<> Slower pace than the surrounding talk
Notes
1 The name of the university and the participants are pseudonyms. For a detailed description of the
research method, please see Sultana (2014b).
2 Data coding
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17
SOCIOECONOMIC IDENTITY
PRACTICES OF BANGLADESHI
YOUNG ADULTS THROUGH
ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
Saima Akter
Introduction
Language plays significant roles in individual and collective representation and communica-
tion, meaning-making processes, formation and performances of identity, and construction of
knowledge (Bourdieu, 1977; Jensen, 2011). It is also a form of ‘capital’ (particularly cultural) that
represents the social field and habitus of its users (Bourdieu, 1977). On this note, language is iden-
tified as the prime tool for ‘representing and negotiating’ social relationships and considered as
the ‘centre of social and political life’ (Bailey, 2007, p. 257). Bourdieu (1977), in his seminal work,
Outline of a Theory of Practice, discussed about the power of language in social communication; in
his discussion of capital, the transition between economic capital and cultural and/or linguistic
capital shows how one’s language affects their socioeconomic status as well as their identity.
English is seen as a means of gaining profit and prestige, leading to further accumulation of
the economic capital of its bearer across the world. The English language in its standard form,
that is,Standard English (SE), receives great appreciation and prestige from the mass because of
its profits in the global market (Jenkins, 2006). However, the language situation in Bangladesh
is complex. It is generally perceived as a ‘predominantly monolingual’ country (Banu, 2002,
p. 306; Rahman & Hossain, 2012, p. 233). Bangla holds a higher value for many Bangladeshis
since the language represents Bangladeshi nationalism and national identity, although people
have a more diverse and conflicted feeling for both the languages because of their locatedness in
the global and local interphase (Sultana, 2014, 2016a). Therefore, it is difficult to claim to what
extent these identity markers still retain the original ethnolinguistic and political commitments
that Bangladeshis have developed with association with the Language Movement of 1952 and
the Liberation War of 1971.
English has also regained its colonial stature in the country due to its extreme influence
in the global market. English marginalises some and empowers others in educational settings,
specifically in universities, where it is the medium of instruction. Consequently, English has
become a language of marginalisation and empowerment of young adults in Bangladesh (Sultana,
2016b). They also use it in their day-to-day life for negotiating individual identity (Sultana,
2014, 2016a), showing their critical awareness of the local and global social, political, and reli-
gious issues (Sultana, 2019) or challenging the perceived stereotyped gendered identity in the
context of Bangladesh (Sultana, 2018). However, young adults’ linguistic behaviour, specifically
271
Saima Akter
pronunciation and socioeconomic identity, as perceived and practiced, has not been investigated
in the context of Bangladesh. An in-depth analysis of young adults’ perception about the rela-
tionship between pronunciation and individual and collective locatedness in different socio-
economic tiers, hence, seem timely.
Social class perceived and practised

By addressing social class1 as an ‘amorphous term’, Vandrick (2014) indicates the complexity
of defining social class on its own (p. 86). The simplified definition of social class focuses on
people’s ‘social, economic, occupational, and educational statuses’ and ignores the other signifi-
cant variables that are sexual identity, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, and so on, that make them
belong to a social group in particular (ibid.). It denies the existence of ‘social habitus and field’ that
holds a significant role in shaping one’s social identity and behaviour. The Marxist idea of social
class is seemingly too one-dimensional – focusing only on one’s occupational functions that
apparently denies the multidimensional space that society provides (Meyerhoff, 2006). Critics
believed that class should be defined in terms of ‘social actions’ as the “influence of economic
factors is tempered by people’s life chances and life styles” (Meyerhoff, 2006, p. 165). In this
regard, Weber’s concept of class captures “the significance of an individual’s participation in a
complex set of associated behaviours (including speech and life style) and also the importance of
aspirations and attitudes (life chances)” (ibid.).
Social class is not constant; rather it is always moving either upwards or downwards; unlike the
caste system, class is very flexible. Social class is always shifting, particularly ‘upwardly’ due to the
developmental factors that are individuals’ social action based on their aspiration and life chances
(Meyerhoff, 2006, p. 166). Meyerhoff noted that, this Parsonian and Weberian view of class is ‘a
more sensitive and accurate measure’ of social class that combines “a number of objective factors
(like personal wealth and value of home) with subjective factors (like people’s aspirations to social
mobility, or their friendship network)” (p. 168). Moreover, Coupland (2007) supports this notion
of class suggesting that in this era of ‘late-modernity’,
social life seems increasingly to come packaged as a set of lifestyle options able to be
picked up and dropped, though always against a social backdrop of economic possibil-
ities and constraints… Social class… membership in the West is not straitjacket that it
was.Within limits, some people can make choices in their patterns of consumption and
take on the social attributes of different social classes… the meaning of class is shifted
(pp. 29–30).
Defining social class identity on the basis of constant dynamics is, therefore, a difficult task, for
class often “intersects and interacts with other identities such as race, gender, ethnicity, reli-
gion, and sexual identity” (Kubota & Luke as cited in Vandrick, 2014, p. 86). Different iden-
tities, based on its position and power (Foucault, 1982) in a society, bring about formation
of different discourses. Now, defining social class in relation to power entices complications
as power cannot be realised in isolation; thus, it can only be studied in terms of the relations
among the agents or subjects in their social realia. The interplay of power and relations among
the agents is reciprocal; one confides into the other. On one hand, by the execution of power,
social class identity is constructed; concurrently on the other, the constructed social class iden-
tity confirms further exercise of power in the society. This identity is expressed through social
behaviours such as language, attire, life style, and so on. These indices definitely play a crucial
role in defining one’s social class identity, but they complicate the very nature of the identity as
272
Socioeconomic identity practices
they tend to change with people’s life style and life chances. Therefore, to mitigate the problems
of defining social class, sociolinguists have used number of metrics that are occupation, accom-
modation (neighbourhood), education, and other economic possessions are accepted to be the
most useful markers of one’s socioeconomic status (Labov, 1963,2001, 2006; Trudgill, 1997;
Trudgill & Trudgill, 1974) in a society, given that each category entices certain level of prestige
and authority over the other befitting the power relations present and executed in the society
(Meyerhoff, 2006).
However, regardless of which definition of class is accepted, it is always recognised as a cru-
cial factor in shaping one’s social identity and prestige. This is not a pre-conceptualised scheme
that one’s socioeconomic class carries out their social prestige and identity; rather it is a result
of acceptance and rigorous practice essentially directed by monetary possession, power, and/or
capital. The highest prestige is attributed to the class which is at the control of capital and this
variable mainly directs the way how the social norms should be shaped. Also, since the capit-
alist class is at the control of resources that are, money, wages, product, and so on, the members
of this class get the privilege of penetrating their beliefs; thus, eventually have them accepted
by the members from the lower strata in the society. The process is so subtle that it is never
questioned as they control the socio-cultural resources that are, politics, law, media, job sectors,
literature, and so on. It not only benefits their economic interest, both objectively and subject-
ively by maximising the profit, but also institutionalises their ideologies by confirming them
as the owner of the capital (Bourdieu, 1986, pp. 242–243). This process of induction can be
explained by what Pierre Bourdieu defined as ‘cultural capital’. For Bourdieu (1986) cultural
capital exists in three forms:
in the embodied state, i.e. in the form of long lasting dispositions of the mind and
body; in the objectified state, in the form of cultural goods (pictures, books, dictionaries,
instruments, machines etc.), which are the trace or realization of theories or critiques
of these theories, problematics, etc.; and in the institutionalized state, a form of object-
ification which must be set apart because, as will be seen in the case of educational
qualifications, it confers entirely original properties on the cultural capital which it is
presumed to guarantee.
(Bourdieu, 1986, p. 243)
According to Bourdieu, people’s perception and attitude towards anything is a result of the
institutionalisation of the ideologies of the people at economic power. The way English and its
speakers are treated in the society is the cultural profit that English has gained throughout the
years of institutionalising English as the prestige language of the world.
Bourdieu, in 1977, claims that among all the indices of social class, language is the most
powerful of all since it is an instrument of power. Language is, therefore, studied by scholars as
reducible to ‘an intellectual encoding-decoding operation’ that is a ‘symbolic power relation’
between authority and acceptance (Bourdieu, 1997, p. 649). The authority bestows power upon
the language they use and institutionalises it through the ‘cultural goods’, that is, education and
thus, by the execution of the ‘power processes’ acceptance is attained (Foucault, 1982, p. 787).
According to Bourdieu, the society is a place for ‘mercantile exchange’ – the market, where all
the actions done by the agents are oriented towards the ‘maximisation of profit’ (1997, p. 242).
The profit is maximised when acceptance from all the agents in the society is attained. Bourdieu
(1977) also suggests that language is not merely an interaction between structure and meaning
but between power and acceptance. One does not speak just for the sake of speaking but to be
heard, understood, believed, obeyed, respected, and distinguished.Therefore, the language spoken
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must be legitimate, that is, authorised and propagated by the authority, in other words, ‘the elites’.
The structure and meaning of language depend on the role and relativity of the interlocutors
who are engaged in the symbolic exchange. The ‘symbolic power relation’ that the interlocutors
share determines the value to be added to their discourse (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 648). The question
of linguistic competence is intersected by power and thus the legitimacy of the language in use
no more depends on the structural value rather it shifts towards the prestige value of the user.
However, this similar exchange is not possible in every exchange of language as written language
does not require the similar kind of value and power relationship, whereas spoken language
“presupposes a legitimate transmitter addressing a legitimate receiver, one who is recognized
and recognizing” (p. 649). Hereby, discourse becomes a symbolic asset and its value is negotiated
according to the relation between the interlocutors. Further, value is added to discourse by taking
the market into account where it is presented, perceived, and practiced as a capital. The value of
discourse is sustained by reassuring its market value which is done by the instruments of repro-
duction of linguistic capital, that is, the school system has a…
monopoly over the production of the mass of producers and consumers, and hence
over the reproduction of the market on which the value of linguistic competence
depends, in other words its capacity to function as linguistic capital.
(Bourdieu, 1977, p. 652)
In addition to the above claim, Bourdieu also notices that researchers in education sector often
correlate academic achievement to intellectual ability and natural aptitude neglecting another
factor that is this ability or talent itself is a product of ‘an investment of time and cultural
capital’ – quoting from Becker where the ‘social rate of return’ or the ‘social gain of education’
is counted upon its contribution to national productivity disregarding the ‘hereditary transform-
ation of cultural capital’ by reproducing the hegemonic social structure that is often ‘heavily
disguised, or even invisible’ (Bourdieu, 1986, pp. 244–245). This hereditary transmission of the
capital and its reproduction are often made certain by the economic limitations of individuals
at the lower strata of the society. These individuals often fail to continue their children’s educa-
tion to unlock an option to transcend their economic limitations and thus the cycle of repro-
ducing the labour-power continues. In this regard, Vandrick (2014) draws the readers’ attention
to Bowles and Gintis (1976) who foregrounded the institutional aspect of class induction by
arguing that ‘schools reproduce social class status’. Institutionalised education or schooling in this
way contributes in shaping the ‘capitalist division of labour’ and thus ‘socialize people to function
in their places’ in a heavily asymmetrical world (Vandrick, 2014, p. 87). Since the system itself
produces such structured inequalities, it is often not possible for the members of a society to
overcome the condition of class inequality. Sociologists, like Bourdieu and Passeron too, support
the view that academic institutions are the ones that reproduce this class difference. Thus, the
academic institutions continue the circle of reproducing social class differences,‘the capitalist div-
ision of labour’, that assign people with certain roles in the society and make them accept and act
accordingly (Bowels & Gints, 1976). The social class division, therefore, is subjected not only to
one’s ownership of materialistic property and power in a society only but also to one’s authority
over the linguistic capital.
Social class as reproduced through the institutionalised tools brings about changes in indi-
viduals’ social actions which may also be visible through people’s identification or rejection to a
particular social group or CoP2 (communities of practice) (Eckert, 2006; Lave & Wenger, 1991)
as well as the changes in the semiotic resources that are clothing, haircut, gestures, and so on
that makes them alike or discriminate them from any given social group. However, the linguistic
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variables, unlike the other variables, cut a real fine line of demarcation among individuals and
thus require an intense study on both its individuality and its identification as a part of a larger
social set as a whole. There are differences among people in expression, linguistic choice of
symbols and codes, and consequently, their social action and participation in it which direct the
speakers to use variation in their speech which is an individual feature; this individuality of lin-
guistic variables is thus more idiosyncratic.
Research design
In order to address the notion of young adults’ socioeconomic identity in relation to their pro-
nunciation of English, a mixed approach was adopted. The research was conducted in Dhaka,
the capital of Bangladesh, a city where a huge demarcation of economic hierarchy exists similar
to most large cities around the globe where ‘social, cultural, linguistic, and economic hier-
archies’ are ever present (May, 2014, p. 229). A quantitative socioeconomic index (SEI) form was
distributed among 200 students, studying in different subjects at two public and four private
universities in Dhaka, in order to profile the young adults according to their socioeconomic
status; 180 respondents completed the survey among whom12 respondents were finally selected–
among them five were from the English department, three were from Computer Science and
Engineering, two were from the faculty of Business Administration, and two were from the
department of Mass Communication. The SEI form was needed for avoiding any kind of bias
about the perceived status (both reputation and economy) of the institutions as well as the
participants. The participants construct a shared network irrespective of their socioeconomic
class boundaries with similar experiences and expectations of life. Their SEI score helped to
categorise them into three major SEC groups – A, B, and C [where A = upper class (UC), B =
middle class (MC), and C = lower class (LC)]. Each group contained four participants where
group A and B, each had two (2) female and two (2) male participants and group C had one (1)
female and three (3) male participants.
The variation in the groups was required, for it was assumed to provide a wider range of
available phonetic variables in young adults’ speech, their experience of the phenomenon, and
an extensive understanding of young adults’ realisation of their socioeconomic class identity as
conveyed by the phonetic variables (Dörnyei, 2007). The research also included a semi-structured
questionnaire for focused group discussion (FGD) that helped to identify the young adults’ views
about their socioeconomic class identity as expressed and perceived through English pronun-
ciation. The FGD also included recordings of the participants’ careful and casual speech, which
were played alternatively to each group and the participants were asked to guess the speakers’
socioeconomic background on the basis of their pronunciation and they were also asked to jus-
tify their choices; however, the actual identity of the speakers were not disclosed to any of them.
For the recordings, one participant from each group was given a recorder. The participants were
also given a list of most frequently used words of English to be recorded as their careful speech.
The list consisted of words selected on the basis of the phonetic variation in Bangla and English,
that are long and short vowels, diphthong and monophthong variation, and phonemes present
in English only. It has been established that Bangladeshi speakers generally have difficulty in
pronouncing English words defined into these categories (Hai & Ball, 1961; Imam, Ropum, &
Arif, 2015); thus, they usually are more conscious while pronouncing these words even if they
do not know the correct pronunciation. Now, since the study includes both conscious and sub-
conscious mode of speech; therefore, these words were selected. Nevertheless, unlike the categor-
isation of the words, the selection of words was more random. They were selected on the basis
of the frequency of occurrence (source: Internet).3 This came up with more controlled, specific,
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and conscious utterances by the participants, whereas the casual speech presented a data with
loose, indefinite, and unconscious utterances. These recordings were used in the FGD in order
to see how the young adults perceived and viewed others’ socioeconomic identity on the basis
of their pronunciation. For the casual speech analysis, no particular context or topic was given.
The participants were free to have a conversation over anything they would like. For this session,
the recorder was given to one of the participants and he or she was asked to keep the recorder
invisible from the other participants.
Findings
Self-evaluation
All the participants agreed that good English pronunciation matters to them a lot as in a country
like Bangladesh it gives a positive face value to the speaker as well as pronunciation affect the
meaning of words in English quite vividly. While AP3 commented that “good pronunciation,
for me is a marker of one’s intellect”, CP4 said “if a person has a good pronunciation of any
language that makes them smart and presentable. And in our country, if you pronounce English
words well then everyone will look highly at you”.
Participants from Group A agreed on following the American accent more when asked if they
were aware of different accents of English. AP1, AP2, and AP3 pointed at their English-medium
education background that gave them exposure to both British and American accents. AP3
commented, “I grew up in an English medium background and was exposed to both the accents,
i.e. American and British but I prefer the American one as it seems easier to me; the British
accent omits some sounds which makes me feel alienated from the Bangladeshi accent”. It has
been observed that the participants perceived American accent closer to ‘Banglish’ (Bangladeshi)
accent in comparison to British accent. “I pronounce the /r/sound at the end of every word
like the Americans do and we, Bengalis [Bangladeshis] do the same in Bangla, and most of the
Bangladeshis speak like this, they do not include stress and sound omission like the British do”,
said AP1. AP2 added to this,
The more accented tone leaves you alone. My friend from LA (Los Angeles), who was
born and brought up there, came back a few years ago and is now studying at Dhaka
University. He faced problems because of his accent, the people judged him saying -
Beshi part maros. [Tr. - You show off too much] and now he tries to speak in normal
Bangladeshi accent to match up with the Bangla medium pupils, -Or to kono upai nai,
o to naile tikte parbena okhane- [He has no choice; otherwise he’ll not be able to survive
there].
According to AP4, she tries to imitate the American accent as the university, she is studying in,
follows it and most of her teachers have American accent and so do her friends. Even though, she
is from Bangla medium and grew up following the British accent as standard that is ‘difficult’ to
imitate and makes her feel ‘out of the circle’.
Group B had a more tolerant view towards the British accent as BP1 commented, “Our
education system follows the British system and we grew up with this”. “Although we cannot
perfect it but still it is the standard one and thus we should follow it”, added BP4. BP2’s obser-
vation provides an understanding of their beliefs, as he stated, “Bhul boli, thik boli but amra try kori
standard-a pouchate, because, eta amader society-te joruri, manush standard-takei value dei” [We make
mistakes but we try to reach the standard, because it is valued in our society, people think of
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those highly who speak with standard pronunciation.] They saw their education background as
an obstacle to acquire SE as BP3 said:
The Bangla medium follows the British rules but eta amader English-ta-ke obhabe
practice-er shujog dei-na. jar karon-e amader onek-kichu-tei lacking achhe, especially
pronunciation-e. ami nijei onek-kichu bhul bolechhi ja ami realise korechhi and amar
moddhe ei awareness ta eshechhe cause ami phonetics-er course korechhi, tao ato
derite. But ato bochhorer practice ato shohoje jabarna, so I have to try hard, where the
English medium students are privileged than I cause ora egula agei porey eshechhe.
[The Bangla medium follows the British rules, but it never provided us with enough
scopes of practicing the language and thus we lack, especially in pronunciation. I have
made mistakes and have realised it and have got this awareness after doing a course on
phonetics that too at this level. But I am trying hard, after all I have been speaking in
this manner for so long. The English-medium students have the privilege because they
already are aware of these facts].
The awareness of the accent variables is very visible across the three SEC groups and they regard
social media as the benefactor of this: “The social media is to be blamed for this confusion.You
see, nowadays people watch Hollywood movies and American dramas and we are exposed to
both; and most of us are not so good at imitating the standard accent but we try hard because we
need to become presentable and SE makes us that”, stated CP4. However, CP3 opposed the idea
of following any accent as he sees this accent orientation flouting his ‘Bengali’ identity:
I speak the language for it is needed and I learned it for a long time, but I am not
concerned about the accents because I feel that I should pronounce the way I can and
that makes it my language. And if I follow a particular accent, I’ll sound fake like those
English medium students who don’t know their own language. I am good with my
Bengali identity.
Careful and casual speech evaluation

All the participants were asked to listen to the careful and casual speech recordings of the
participants from the other groups and to give opinions about the socioeconomic background
on the basis of the pronunciation of the speakers only.
Group A → Group B
Group A recognised group B as students of Bangla medium. They identified BP1 and BP4 as
Bangla-medium students who had a better schooling than the other two of the group. Pointing
at BP1’s utterances in the careful speech session, AP2 indicated at the anxiety BP1 had in her
voice. Drawing reference to this, AP4 identified herself with BP1 as being a Bangla-medium
student she also kept putting effort while speaking in English in order to remain in the ‘pres-
tige group’ as she believed English was more prestigious than Bangla. However, AP4 found BP1
having the similar practices that she also did to maintain her ‘in-group’ identity with Group A,
that is, “Trying hard to maintain the proper pronunciation, but when I’m nervous, my voice
shakes and I mess up. This girl (BP1) is very similar to me. I felt like she is me; maybe she is from
my school or from one like mine”, AP4 added. Supporting AP4, AP3 stated, “Yeah, she could be
one of us”. BP2’s deviation from the SE received their major attention; they also found her more
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fabricated. BP2 was, thus, categorised as slightly lower than BP1 and BP4 as AP3commented,
“She is from the middle class, but not from the equal one of the first girl and boy; she is, perhaps,
from the lower-middle class who got some access to good English that helped her recognizing
the correct pronunciation”. BP3 was also called ‘pretentious’ for his efforts to utter the words in
careful speech. Again, BP1 and BP4 were recognised as students of ‘private university’, whereas
BP2 and BP3 were tagged as “…‘typical public university’ students who tried too hard to reach
the standard we follow” (AP1).
After listening to the casual conversation of Group B, Group A modified their comments about
BP1 and BP4 as they observed a kind of peculiarity in the group’s conversation that made them
think that they belonged to ‘public university’; however, they still believed that BP1 and BP4
belonged to ‘better’ socioeconomic condition. AP2 commented referring to Group B’s mistakes,
“As Bengalis (Bangladeshis) if you deviate a bit, that’s completely okay, but if you completely
say it wrong then you better be off to Bangla, Ingreji tomar kommo noy [English is not your cup
of tea]”. AP1 added his remarks here, “If my driver (perceived as a lower class job) had said this,
I wouldn’t have minded cause that’s normal, but this guy is in a university and it’s not acceptable
at all”. Group B’s current education background was guessed by pointing at the lexical items
they used, that are‘Hall, Oporajeyo Bangla, Chattar’, and so on. Attributing SE as the marker of
smartness, AP2 expressed his surprise as ‘Eipola (BP3) chance pailo kamne!’ [How did he even
get through the admission test?] AP3, in this regard said, “C’mon, ‘public universities’ don’t have
‘smartness’ filtration”. AP1 tried to mitigate the threatening comment by saying “These students
might be good and they might have scopes to improve, but their discredit is they don’t try”.
Group A → Group C
Group C was found ‘less pretentious’ and ‘quite content with what they have got’. According to
Group A, CP1 had the highest utterances close to SE. AP1 pointed at CP2 saying, “This guy has
an effortless pronunciation, not pretentious at all. He is making mistakes but he is effortless. I like
him”. AP3 added, “Maybe this guy started of being poor but now he is in a good condition”.
They also tried to guess the residential neighbourhood and concluded that AP3 and AP4 might
live in the outskirts of the city, “They don’t sound like ‘central’ Dhaka people, like CP1 does;
these two might be living in the outskirts, but they are good, definitely good” (AP1).
Pointing at the pronunciation and the topics of the conversation, Group C was recognised as
“private university students or public university students with better educational background”,
meaning that public university students belonging to poorer educational background. They also
added that they would have befriended with Group C because “These guys seem to be from
private university, maybe not ‘as good as ours’ but still we can match up with them but the first
group, oder shathe amader milbena [We can’t match up with them (Group B)]” AP2 commented.
Group B (Middle SEC)
Group B → Group A
Group B tagged Group A as “upper class, English medium and private university students” except
for AP4 who was perceived as a Bangla-medium student. AP4 was assumed to have had her
schooling from a reputed institution of ‘central’ Dhaka. She has a tone like us, like we speak– the
Bangla-medium ones – “or kothai ekta Bangali Bangali bhaab achhe jeta or friend circle er karo moddhe nei,
kothai ekta madhurjo ache” stated BP1 [She has a Bangladeshi style of speaking that her friends lack,
there is a ‘sweetness’ in her accent]. Group B put emphasis on the English-medium background
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of the other three participants from Group A in judging their socioeconomic background. They
believed that they had a style that is common to English-medium students who “unnecessarily
stylise their accent while speaking English/Bangla” (BP4) and this takes away the ‘madhurjota’
[beauty or sweetness] of Bangla. “Akhon jodio Bangla accent ‘upper class’ lagena Englisher tulonai, but
still eta shundor”[Although Bangla doesn’t sound as ‘upper class’ as English, still it is beautiful] (BP1).
However, they agreed that Group A is more privileged because of their better pronunciation.
BP3 claimed that it was these people’s ‘good fortune not their talent’ that they had better English.
BP2 added a regional dimension to the discussion by saying, They belong to central Dhaka, and
they sound like that, “amar elakaio jodi Dhaka-r moto ato English medium school thakto, amio same
position-ei thaktam, amakeo society tokhon amar English-er jonno beshi priority dito” [If my hometown
had as many English-medium schools as Dhaka, I would be in the same position, I would get
more priority from the society because of my English then.]
Group B also stated that the students from English medium always seek admission or get
enrolled in the private universities, and this is typical of them; they do not attempt to contest
against the students from Bangla medium. Adding to this BP3 said, ‘Baper taka thakle k koshto
kore?’ [Why would one struggle unnecessarily if their father is rich?] Group B showed a denial
towards any institutional affiliation with Group A. However, they added that the standard pro-
nunciation might give Group A lots of opportunities, but it did not mean, it made them any
superior to them in any other respect, “They are just like us, the only difference is, we are public
university students and they are private university students”.
Group B → Group C
Group C members were categorised as private, public, and national university students where
CP1 was thought of as private university student, because he had more ‘sophisticated’ utterance;
CP3 and CP2 fell under the national university category for their mistakes. Group B identified
themselves more with CP4 who had a pronunciation with a lower amount of mistakes. CP1’s
close enough standard pronunciation alienated him from Group B for his ‘stylised utterance’,
“kemon jani ektu beshie shuddho English laglo, onek beshi consciously bolchilo and she shob gulor shothik
uccharon janto” [He sounded more polished, he was way too conscious while speaking and knew
the pronunciation well] (BP4), whereas CP4 received more appreciation as he sounded more
‘real’ to them. Even in the case of casual conversation, CP1 was perceived as ‘wanting to flaunt
his English’ like the English medium-upper class students.
However, Group B agreed that they would approach Group A to practice and improve their
English although Group C would be a better match, “karon Group C teto Bangla medium-er
shongkha beshi plus public university-r student-o achhe, amader shathe oderi bhalo jabe” [Since Group C
has Bangla-medium students like us and also two public university students, we would be better
matches] (BP2).
Group C (Lower SEC)
Group C → Group A
Group A was categorised as English-medium students. AP4 was pointed out as a Bangla-
medium student; however, she seemed ‘imitating her friends’ accent’ showing a more “middle
class ‘wannabe’-like” characteristics. The groups’ socioeconomic background was linked to their
schooling background preceded by their ‘stylised’ utterances that reflected a ‘show-off ’ tendency
(CP3 and CP4).
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Along with the economic and educational affinity, AP3’s gender identity was taken as a factor
for having standard pronunciation: “She spoke even better than AP1 and AP2 who are also from
the same education background” (CP2); “Girls speak more sophisticatedly, ora eta parey” [They
can do this] (CP4). Moreover, Group C expressed their complexes against Group A that they are
already in a better social position and because of their better education and accent, they would
get the best positions in the job market that “We can’t even think of and this frustrates me” (CP1).
Group C → Group B
Group B’s accent was much appreciated as more ‘Bangladeshi’. They connected Group B’s topic
of conversation, higher usage of Bangla, and standard Bangla utterances to be very ‘unique’ to
‘public university’ students. Group C commented that they would feel hesitated to talk to Group
A, whereas they would be more comfortable with Group B. Nevertheless, CP1 and CP2 said that
they still would approach Group A because they are from private university, while CP3 and CP4
stated that they would be more comfortable with Group B because they were also from Bangla
medium and public university background which make them feel more ‘connected’ to Group B.
Critical reflections
In-group congruence
The interview presents ample amount of instances where the groups tried to categorise them-
selves within certain boundaries. They often tried to present a tolerant face of themselves while
making judgments about their counter groups; however, a deeper concentration to the lexical
choices about themselves and the others made it more visible than they intended to.
The first category, each group attested themselves to, is the pure-unaffected ‘Bangladeshi’
identity. The sense of national identity is very crucial among the groups. Group A is found to be
commenting on the local variety of English pronunciation, which they believe is not standard;
yet they showed their tolerance because that is what ‘most Bengalis [Bangladeshis] do or speak
like’ (AP1). Nevertheless, the other two groups showed a similar tendency of identifying them-
selves as ‘Bangladeshi’ where both the latter groups stated themselves as ‘pure Bangladeshis’ and
put Group A far away by using phrases such as ‘madhurjota nei’ [lacks the beauty]. This phenom-
enon of contesting their ‘efficient English speaking’ with ‘moderate/poor English speaking’ links
the speakers’ identity with their educational background. Hamid and Jahan (2015) also noticed
this tendency among the English-medium and Bangla-medium students where the former tried
to be as positively as possible about Bangla medium, whereas the Bangla-medium students
expressed the negative aspect of being English-medium students who might gradually ‘lose’ their
‘Bangladeshi’ identity. This is not a debate of language anymore, but what the language stood
for, and according to Group A their use of SE is the de facto English which is the valued one;
Group B and Group C do not deny this, but they put it at the periphery by making it a marker
of a ‘foreign identity’ (Hamid & Jahan, 2015).
The accent variables present in the utterances were mainly the American accent variables,
especially in Group A. The presence of American variables is accepted by this group as their
means to identify themselves with the native Bangladeshi accent; however, the other two groups
viewed it as a tool of alienating the ‘upper class’ from the general mass by calling it ‘stylised and
fake’.The British accent variables were shared by Group B who believed that British norms ruled
our education system, whereas Group C voiced their contentment of feeling ‘more Bangladeshi’
with Bangla-influenced accent.
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The second most visible identification was of the academic affinity. Although Group B and
C appreciated the SE used by Group A, they stuck to the phrase that Group A ‘lacked the
beauty/sweetness while speaking Bangla’ because they are from English medium and they never
realised the true essence of the beauty of Bangla like the way they (Group B and Group C)
do. Meanwhile, Group A viewed them as the ‘norm’, expressing the power of capital – both
monetary and linguistic – and thus categorised the Bangla-medium students of having a lower
standard of English.
When asked about the current education medium, all the private university students tried to
present themselves as much positively as possible; even Group C who tagged Group A as different
from them also identified themselves with the private university identity, opposing the members
of their own socioeconomic groups.
Finally, the regional identity comes in where Group A saw them representing ‘the central
Dhaka population’ and the lower SEC group as the outskirt population. The use of words, such
as ‘central’, automatically expressed their belief of being powerful.
Intergroup alienation
All the groups tried to pose positive and in doing so they indirectly imposed negative attributes
to the other groups.This is again a complex relationship among the variables because all the other
identities clashed with the linguistic identity of the speakers. The use of phrases, such as, ‘we are
more Bangladeshi/the public university students are like that’, shows the different lexical choices
they make to differentiate among themselves. The particular phrases, ‘we the Bangladeshis/our
culture/us/me/I’, marked the in-group congruence, whereas phrases like ‘peculiar/they lack/
the outskirt people/show-off ’ exhibited differentiation. The act of alienation took place in each
group, where one group typecast the other and thus pejoratively carried out which Davies and
Harré (as cited in Hamid & Jahan, 2015) calls the ‘interactive act of putting negative face to the
other’.
It is noticeable that all the groups had a sense of ‘national congruence’, although perceived dif-
ferently. Group A showed a tendency to get closer to the general mass, so they are not left alienated
with an underlying unwillingness in their voicing of the national identity. Imam pointed at this
stating, “The English medium students think they are temporarily living in Bangladesh, but their
ultimate destination is abroad” (as cited in Rahman, 2014). There is both fear and unwilling-
ness present in their voice that Hamidand Jahan (2015) identified as one of the attributes of the
English-medium students in Bangladesh. While on the one hand, the English-medium students
in Group A feared the alienation from the general mass, AP4; a Bangla-medium student, on
the other, feared falling from the prestige and being identified with the ordinary mass, that her
‘perceived prestige group’, that is, the teachers and friends looked down upon. The fear among
the participants from English medium has grounds in the attitude of people towards them. This
is evident in AP3’s comment that there is a stereotype about the English-medium students in
Bangladesh that they ‘show off ’ their accents deliberately in order to prove themselves superior
(Rahman as cited in Sultana, 2014). Group B’s positive attitude expressed their belief in the
norms and showed an effort to stick to it, so that they do not fall from the standard. Again, this
connects the prestige of the language to people’s social prestige. This can be seen as an effort on
their part in order to be recognised as a part of the valued social groups. Meyerhoff (2006) states
this ‘desire’ to be identified with the ‘legalized, powered’ group is one of the reasons which influ-
ence linguistic variables (pp. 169–173).
Again, there is evidence of putting the upper class and English-medium background at higher
position among Group A; this is observed in the other two groups as well but they link the
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prestige of SE with the social prestige and in doing so Group C stereotyped the English-medium
students and Group B viewed them as the privileged ones. Here, a tendency of both upward and
downward convergence can be observed.While Group A was trying to adopt downward conver-
gence to integrate into the general mass, Group B and Group C attempted to move upward to
be recognised as the ‘legalized speakers of English’. In both cases, the upper class was attributed
with higher prestige; Group A’s discourse indirectly alienated themselves from the larger mass
of the country who they believed to have lower linguistic competence and lower social status
from them by stating ‘He has no choice…’ or ‘Most Bangladeshis speak like this’; stating these,
Group A represents the upper SEC as constructing a powerful self category but also a marginal-
isation of general people from middle and/or lower SEC.
The segregation was visible in the other two groups as well; both the groups had different
perceptions but they put the SE at the centre. While Group B showed endeavour to reach SE to
be as privileged as Group A, Group C attributed a negative face to them (Group A) by calling
them ‘fake’ which Davies and Harré points out as an ‘interactive’ act of presenting the other as
negative (Hamid & Jahan, 2015).
There is a constant fear of alienation working among all – both within and outside the group.
When AP1, AP2, and AP3 expressed their fear of being stereotyped and thus aloof from the
common Bangladeshis on the basis of their linguistic competence, they focused on their necessity
of being identified as much ‘Bangladeshi’ as Group B and Group C. The fear also worked within
the group when AP4 asserted her fear of ‘falling from the prestige’ which is also found in the
voice of Group B who fears to ‘fall from the normative style’.
Conclusion
The study explores the identity concerns of young adults in relation to their socioeconomic
class and English pronunciation by viewing English as the mediator between class and identity.
It can be observed that the alienation process involves a positive attribution to the upper strata,
whereas a negative (re)presentation of the lower group becomes visible in individual and group
linguistic practices. Besides, the process includes complex and entangled ideological practices
that are identifiable but too complicated to be presented independently. The multifaceted nature
of identity puts forward the notion of network relations and CoP that include groups with
shared features, interests, and experiences (Meyerhoff, 2006), that is, same academic affiliation
gives the participants a feeling of belongingness with other participants from the same or similar
institutions while judging each other.The aim to see the alienating norms and practices in young
adults’ discourse is sufficed by the ample amount of instances found from the FGD. The process
includes segregation from both ends and the English language plays an important role in giving
voice to this identification or alienation of one.
Notes
1 The terms social class and socioeconomic class have been used interchangeably in this chapter.
2 A community of practice is a collection of people who engage on an on-going basis in some common
endeavour.The construct was brought into sociolinguistics (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet, 1992) as a way
of theorising language and gender – most particularly, of responsibly connecting broad categories to
on-the-ground social and linguistic practice. The value of the notion CoP to sociolinguistics and lin-
guistic anthropology lies in the fact that it identifies a social grouping not in virtue of shared abstract
characteristics (e.g. class, gender) or simple co-presence (e.g. neighbourhood, workplace) but in virtue
of shared practice.
3 The frequency list of words is available at http://www.wordfrequency.info/free.asp?s=y.
282
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18
A CRITICAL EXPLORATION
OF PRIVATE UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS’ APPROACH
TOWARDS ENGLISH AS A
MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION
IN BANGLADESH
Introduction
In Bangladesh, popularly perceived and accepted as a monolingual country, English is widely
used as the language of trade, commerce, higher education, and international communication. It
has perhaps penetrated other spheres as well in this former British colony since its permeation.
It has been playing a decisive role in separating the insiders from the outsiders, the cultured from
the unrefined, and the well-educated from the ill- or half-educated in the name of politics of
‘standard English’ (cf. Crowley, 2003; Sultana, 2016). The purpose in the end is quite obvious:
determine who should be allowed to climb to the top or kept hanging on the lowest rung of
the ladder.
To use English as a means of segregation has become possible due to the fact that English is
now a ‘desired’ commodity perceived both locally and globally (Tan & Rubdy, 2008). The 2010
Education Policy, Bangladesh makes English a compulsory subject from Grade 1 (Education
Policy Bangladesh, 2010). However, due to contextual realities, which include inadequate
resources, untrained teachers, limited infrastructural facilities to mention a few (Imam, 2005),
English appears as a commodity in Bangladesh which not everyone can obtain at the same level.
Consequently, English has become even more desirable for many and gained ‘magical’ qualities.
The private universities (PUs) in Bangladesh, specifically those widely accepted as high-ranked,
has made English the de facto medium of instruction (MOI), while there is no such clause in the
Private University Act 1992, Bangladesh about it (Act 34, Private University Act, Bangladesh,
1992).The PU authorities often use a pretext by citing the name of an internationally renowned
school or a country they model on. For instance, the website of an old and established PU writes
that they are modelled based on the US universities and follows the semester system, credit
hours, letter grades, and so on outlined by those universities. Many other established PUs in the
country follow the same approach, that is, a North American Model. A reference to Bourdieu
and Wacquant’s (2001) notion of ‘planetary vulgate’ can be useful here to explain the ‘Zeitgeist’
of the contemporary Bangladeshi tertiary institutions. According to them, the perceived values of
284
Students’ approach towards English
the contemporary era have been translated into a certain set of vocabulary, which are ‘globalisa-
tion’ and flexibility’, ‘governance’ and ‘employability’, ‘underclass’ and ‘exclusion’, ‘new economy’
and ‘zero tolerance’, and similar other clichés (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 2001). These items are
also prominent features of today’s ‘risk society’ (Beck, 1992) in ‘late modernity’ (Giddens, 1991)
in a manner like if we do not learn English we run the risk of … not being in the flow. The World
Bank financed intellectuals, who in the name of quality assurance interfere in the running of
private tertiary education along with others (e.g. Thomson Reuters, who create hegemonic
discourses for entering global ranking competition), exaggerate the risk by equating English
with the modern education system (Moosa, 2018). The participants in this study and individuals
living in the countries where English is a ‘second’ or ‘foreign’ language, are not inattentive to
these articulations. They see the necessities to establish a connection between ‘good English’ and
‘employability’, ‘internationalisation of higher education and ‘mobility’, and so on.
Against the above background, the chapter aims to explore three interconnected issues: (1) PU
students’ opinion about the status of English in their life and its presence in Bangladesh, (2) how
PU students negotiate their relationship with English at the institutional level, and (3) their atti-
tude towards code-mixing, meshing, and translanguaging in the classroom in relation to only-
English MOI.
PUs in Bangladesh
There are about 106 PUs in the country (University Grants Commission of Bangladesh, 2019),
which have grown in numbers over the last two decades to accommodate the students who
either do not or cannot enter the public universities.These universities, in general, demand much
higher tuition fees than public universities. The limitation of seats in the public universities is
a key reason why most students cannot secure admission in those universities. Therefore, PUs,
albeit demanding higher tuition fees, have drawn attention of the students irrespective of their
socioeconomic backgrounds (Sultana, 2018). Due to the lack of logistically strong vocational or
technical institutions in the country, in addition to certain ‘stigma’ associated with such education
(Alam, 2008), the tertiary education industry has flourished markedly.
In the last three decades, the tertiary institutions have increased to accommodate as many as
half a million students from various demographic locations (Bangladesh Education Statistics,
2017). It needs exploration whether the forms of capital, specifically the ‘symbolic’ and ‘cul-
tural’ capital that these students from diverse backgrounds bring to the university, impact on
their learning and socialisation on campus. Since English has attained the status of a com-
modity within a society, amidst a set of social practices, the concept of commodity needs to be
explained against the logics of the specific ‘market place’ where it attains its ‘symbolic value’
(Bourdieu, 1991, p. 38).
In addition, while English as a medium of instruction (EMI) has widened its reach, Crystal
(2003) suggests that a native speaker may feel ‘pride’ by looking at this expansion; by contrast,
for the ones whose first language is not English, such an expansion may create possibilities for
unequal competition in the marketplace of English. Similarly, students from the English-medium
background in Bangladesh may also celebrate the English-medium education system. It should
be noted here that as a commodity it too “appears at first sight an extremely obvious, trivial thing.
But its analysis brings out that it is a very strange thing, abounding in metaphysical subtleties and
theological niceties” (Marx, 1990, p. 163). In other words, English, apparently an innocent tool
for social status and professional progression, may play a clandestine role in the society. However,
apart from a handful of studies (e.g. Hamid, 2016; Hamid, Jahan, & Islam, 2013; Roshid, 2018;
Sultana, 2014, 2016, 2018), there is a dearth in researching English language education practices
285
(or language-in-education policies) in Bangladesh via socioeconomic variable or through lan-

guage as a capital a là Bourdieu (1984, 1986, 1991). In addition, with an unwritten language
policy that promotes the use of English, PUs seem to determine who has access to social, pol-
itical, or economic resources (Tollefson, 1991). Tollefson (2006) argues elsewhere that “policies
often create and sustain various forms of social inequality and that policy-makers usually pro-
mote the interests of dominant social groups” (p. 42). Considering the above arguments, a dis-
cussion on the status of English and its use in the PU of Bangladesh where English has been
endowed with the ‘magical quality’ is timely.
The hegemony of English and the spectre of colonialism

English has long been in use to propagate the colonisers’ ‘civilising agenda’ established through
certain hegemonic discourse that development can come only through those ‘who speak English’.
The ways English spread in the colonial era during the reign of the British emperor have received
a new dimension in the post-colonial era. In the contemporary era, the neo-colonisers do not
require to employ law enforcement personnel and invest in infrastructure within a specific phys-
ical space to accomplish ‘linguistic imperialism’ (Phillipson, 1992) – the local agents are engaged
to achieve the target through British Council and similar other institutions. English moves in
every direction, and individuals across national boundaries, by following a dream to integrate
with the community from the inner circle (Kachru, 1981, 1992, 1996; Mukherjee, 2010), want to
learn the language. In the process, new varieties of English are born. The varieties, however, may
appear as ‘simplified’, ‘pidginised’ but ‘unstable’ Englishes (Phillipson, 2004) and create further
scopes for inequalities within a diglossic reality. The abilities to use the high or prestige variety
of English, within a diglossia, can then be used as a legitimate means to exclude the users of the
low variety from jobs and other kinds of social and economic progressions.
In order to ensure individual ‘uncanny fluency’ the learning and teaching materials of English
in the contemporary Bangladesh (see English textbooks) focus on the communicative aspects of
language learning and at times on the grammatical properties of the language. The projects and
policy papers, in the name of sustainable development, also ritually bracket social variables, for
example, how the students’ possession of economic and cultural capital affects their access to the
symbolic capital. However, when one cannot speak or write English ‘properly’, he or she loses
all the chances to compete in today’s ‘uneven’ job market. A neoliberal approach to language has
given English that status of ‘prepotential’ and ‘a gatekeeper for hiring process’ (Barnawi, 2017,
p. 72).The institutions, both secondary and tertiary, which are commonly acceptable as providers
of ‘good’ English are, however, few in numbers and are beyond the reach of average countrywide
middle- and lower-income population.
Within a world of economic order when service industries in many countries, including
Bangladesh, have thrived to a maximum level, the ‘comprador bourgeois’ class and their agents
tend to establish a more intimate relation with foreign education providers and the associated
language, that is, English instead of the national language Bangla. The comprador class is defined
in Marxist literature as a class of people that mainly serves the interest of the foreign investors by
working as their local collaborators (Harvey, 2005). People from this social class do not invest in
industries; instead, they invest in export–import businesses; become the pioneers in various ser-
vice industries or real estate businesses. Similar trend has been observable in Bangladesh and in
its burgeoning education and media industries.
A popular account of this change in the education industry has been recorded by an academic
in an opinion editorial published by one of the Bangladeshi English dailies. In the editorial, the
author writes that a reputed PU in its faculty recruitment advertisement demanded the applicants
286
to “have degrees from a reputed foreign university preferably to have a North-American degree”
(Chowdhury, 2005, n.p.). For Chowdhury,
North-American degree’ or ‘reputed foreign university degree’ are self-defeating

because the employer-university does not even recognize its own degree! If it is a newly
established university, this requirement may be partly valid. But some universities even
more than two decades old, still continue with this requirement (2005, n.p.).
The argument by Chowdhury is also a manifestation of the contemporary education industry’s

‘reluctance’ to engage with the local epistemic culture and the national language. Having
established the above arguments, it is equally valid that a blanket ‘aversion’ to the English-medium
education can be ‘detrimental’ for ESL countries like Bangladesh which is incapable to escape
the hegemony of the English language given its lingua franca or global language status in the
contemporary world.
The place of English in ESL/EFL contexts

When it comes to the issue of sharing English equally, one of the ways to minimise the gap
between the haves and the have-nots could be achieved by acknowledging the students’ local
variety of English or allowing World Englishes (WE) in the classroom (see Bruthiaux, 2010).The
campaign, international education-for-all can rely on students’ abilities to speak and write ‘intel-
ligible’ Englishes (Nelson, 2011). Perhaps, this is how a nationalist or an ethno-linguistic identity
can be maintained while being fluent in the current globally pervasive English-induced environ-
ment created by new language hegemony.
Due to immigration, Englishes were born long before Kachru and others began to theorise
WE (see Kachru, Kachru, & Nelson, 2006, for a diasporic development of English). However,
which English or whose English should be taken as the standard remains an issue to keep English
‘pure’ against a plurivocal reality evolving across countries and classrooms where English is used
as a medium of communication. English, similar to most languages, “is organic, ever-changing
and consequently, impossible to pin down to a singular variety” (Baratta, 2019, p. 1). Since English
has achieved a dominating or privileged status in ESL and/or EFL settings, one way of accom-
modating the lingua franca could be to acknowledge the different Englishes (Jenkins, 2006;
Kirkpatrick, 2010; Pakir, 2009; Schneider, 2003; Tupas & Rubdy, 2015).
In addition, to determine the current status of English(es), we need to provide a concrete
analysis of the existing English-in-use practices (e.g. the use of multiple codes or forced mono-
lingualism). One must also question the politics of MOI, that is, whose agenda is accomplished
when a language is chosen as a medium (Tollefson & Tsui, 2003).
Code-switching, code-meshing, and translanguaging

It is not unusual that in a multilingual world students of tertiary institutions often know two
or three languages from birth and might resort to code-switching or as Garcia (2009) opines,
translanguaging. For Garcia (2009, p. 41), “there are many settings throughout the world in which
languaging bilingually is the usual way of languaging, and in which bilingual individuals are the
norm”. She continues, “In many, perhaps most, settings in the world, it is normal and unmarked
to translanguage in interactions between individuals who belong to the same bilingual culture”
(Garcia, 2009, p. 41). The obvious concomitant question here is whether Bangladesh is a bilingual
country, at least within the state of the private tertiary education where English is the chosen MOI.
287
In a bilingual context, language users may opt for switching or meshing codes frequently
whether they are ‘truly’ able-bilinguals or not. To distinguish, translanguaging is not a simple
act of code-switching; it is much more complex. Students in the classrooms ‘mesh’ codes or
translanguage in order to address the task at hand by forming ‘hybrid grammatical and commu-
nicative practices’ (Canagarajah, 2013, p. 276). By using two languages, students can enter a dis-
cussion on a particular pedagogical problem by citing local examples. In such a context they may
need to use both English and their mother tongue to problematise teaching and learning issues.
This practice of localising becomes crucial when postgraduate students, for instance, a school-
teacher is required to bring their life experience.
In a translingual setting, language users may make use of grammatical devices and linguistic
expressions, which do not follow prescribed Standard English; but any such practices may help to
solve the immediate task-at-hand. Instead of seeing language mixing as a form of ‘deviation’ from
the norm and penalising the students for doing so, it can be seen as an attempt for developing
local ideas for both local and global consumptions. The aim could be de-centring the inner
circle and making English local to reflect the pluricentric model of English and to enhance the
communicative competence of the learners. Multiple forms of English that arise in the process
accommodate different rhetorical patterns, pronunciation, and communicative styles in the outer
circles (see Canagarajah, 2013; Wolf, 2010 for further information).
Research design
The site of engagement for the case study was a Dhaka-based English-medium PU. The
participants in the study were enrolled in a course titled ‘World Englishes’ for obtaining a master’s
degree in Applied Linguistics and ELT. Students were generally from Bangla-medium education
background. There were only three students from the English-medium education background,
among the 47 students enrolled in the last two years, over the last six semesters. A qualitative
approach to research was adopted and the data were derived from students’ written assignments,
mid-term scripts, and group discussions as part of the coursework in addition to individual semi-
structured interviews centred around the topics described in Table 18.1. The university offers three
semesters every year. In each semester, approximately 6–10 students are enrolled in the course.
The courses offered by the department at the university prepare students as future teachers –
they learn about the concepts which make them aware of the cognitive and practical aspects of
language teaching and learning, including the politics of English as a global language. In addition,
these students participate in seminars, conferences, and regular discussions on multiple aspects of
English teaching and learning. However, it is not certain how many of these language activities
are habitually conducted in English. Students who graduate from the English department and
who intend to be teachers perceive themselves as poor in English, and hence they face all the
problems that any EMI students face in the university. Getting their opinions and perceptions
is even more important because they are agents who will eventually disseminate the linguistic
ideologies among their students as English language practitioners in Bangladesh. Also to note,
some of the students are already teaching in schools and they claim that when they teach, they
use the knowledge they receive from the courses. Although they may not have the authority to
change the syllabus, and the MOI in the classroom, they can hardly ignore the theoretical baggage
they carry from the institution where they develop an ideal outlook for teaching English.
Each semester the WE students attend 14 three-hour lessons. The usual activities are lecture
sessions, classroom participation and presentation by students, and one mid-term examination.
There is no final examination for the course; instead, the students submit mini research projects
either individually or as a group. The topics covered in the lectures are given to the students
288
in the beginning of the semester during the first meeting in the format of course outline that
includes a week-by-week distribution of topics. By week 3, they choose a topic, a book chapter,
or a journal article from the field of WE.They would present a topic or summarise and comment
on a chapter or an article chosen by themselves from a list of choices. The Routledge Handbook of
World Englishes edited by Kirkpatrick (2010), The Handbook of World Englishes edited by Kachru
and associates (2006), and World Englishes by Jenkins (2003) are used as main textbooks for this
course. Besides, a number of articles and theses written exclusively on Bangladesh are also given
to them as resources, so that students can find research gaps to address in the field of English lan-
guage in Bangladesh. Table 18.1 lists the number of topics covered in the classes.
Table 18.1 Topics and questions raised in the classes, assignments, exams, and in semi-structured
interviews
1 What is your opinion about the status of English as a global language? Mention any two and
elaborate them.
2 What are the reasons behind the spread of English in Bangladesh? Identify at least two reasons and
substantiate your claims with appropriate examples and analysis.
3 As a student of a PU where English is the MOI, how comfortable are you in using the language?
4 What, according to you, should be the ideal language in the MA in ELT classrooms? Do you
think that code-mixing or a monolingual approach would be pedagogically more appropriate?
Explain.
As students begin critically reading scholarly texts, they are asked to connect to Bangladeshi
reality, for example, unequal distribution of capital, politics of English as a local language, and
inequality activated by EMI in the classroom, among others.
The participants in this study code-switched to use Bangla and English in order to discuss,
explain, and theorise their relation to English during the exams, classroom discussions, and
interviews. Although the students wrote about and discussed a whole range of issues, only three
areas have been reported here: (1) students’ opinion about the status of English in their life
and its presence in Bangladesh as a global language, (2) how they negotiate their relationship
with English at the institutional level, and (3) their attitude towards code-mixing, meshing, and
translanguaging in the classroom. Students’ data have been catalogued as follows:
Midterm script: MSYnSemnPn (MS = Midterm; Sem = Semester; and P = Participant; n = ID

no., year and participant serial no.).
Classroom discussion: CLDYnSemn (for the discussion, year has been indicated and semester
number as 1, 2, or 3; participants have not been identified individually).
Semester-Final project report/Assignment: FPYnSemnPn
Interview: INTYnSemnPn
The data derived from the participants are analysed based on the themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006)
that emerge in relation to the three specific issues mentioned above.

As the participants reflected on the use of English that revealed their opinions and attitudes
towards the language, and their justification of why and how they engaged in the English-in-
use practices, they often chose culturally relevant lexical items and morpho-syntactic struc-
ture of their first language. The data shows how their articulation accommodated grammatical
errors while addressing specific pedagogical issues with deep local relevance. In other words, the
289
language and their meta-language epitomises the relationship between the social facts and their
own engagement with the societal factors.
PUs, as institutions, possibly give rise to a set of activities, which can be explained through the
members’ institutional identities. The use of English in the classroom and within the vicinity of
the university with their peers and lecturers may make the students feel like a community as they
consciously or unconsciously embrace a particular lifestyle, read or discuss study materials by using
some common techniques. With a sense of ‘community of practice’ (Ostermann, 2015) – a com-
munity that believes in certain common goals in teaching English – they may embrace a way of life,
which could be typical of most MA students doing Applied Linguistics and ELT. They might also
be remarkably aware of who they are as the shared ‘lived experience’ within a PU shapes their life,
as English is embodied, enmeshed, and encrypted in their very being. According to Garfinkel and
Sacks (1993, p. 160), members’ practices are “through and through members’ methods of socio-
logical inquiry and theorizing”. Hence, the responses made by student-participants in this study
are expected to help theorise how they feel as speakers of a non-native variety of English, and how
they construct a specific vision of language ideology both as an individual and as members of an
ethnolinguistic community against the global hegemonic background of English as a lingua franca.
Status of English in the academia and broader society: A ‘privilege badge’

The students have shown mixed feelings towards the status of English in the country and
unequivocally accept the fact that English is a ‘capital’, a ‘prestige’ language, and a ‘means to
change their life’. Therefore, albeit the students had differing levels of proficiency in the lan-
guage, many of them were of the opinion that they ‘prefer’ EMI. Their argument was that since
English is widely spoken all over the world, it should ‘ideally’ be used more both by the students
and their instructors so that their levels of proficiency increase. They felt that fluency in English
is ‘mandatory’ if they want to participate in academic and co-curricular activities in and out-
side the university. In addition, as an MOI, English can be ‘effective’ because EMI classes allow
more exposure to the language and thus ‘actually improve the proficiency’ in the language. More
exposure to English would make students capable of communicating with the world easily in
addition to increasing their possibility of getting employed locally, for instance, in the non-
government organisations and in the corporate sector.
While there is an instrumental reasoning for ‘falling for’ English, individuals’ desire to integrate
with the English-speaking communities was also influenced by various other factors. One of the
students stated in her mid-term script that
In the context of Bangladesh, English is seen as a posh language by a lot of people…

English somehow gets the privilege badge from the society. I think it is because it [i.e., the
language] is different in the eyes of the traditional norms of this country. Anything that is out
of the box or different in this country is seen as superior or privileged here. Whether it is
a person from a different country speaking a different language or a native Bangladeshi
speaking in English – the reactions are almost the same – wonder (sic; emphasis added)
(MSY18Sem2P1).
The phrase ‘privilege badge’ appears to be inscribed on the body of the speakers who have attained
that ‘uncanny fluency’ (Bhaba, 2012) in a remarkable way.This achievement elevates the speaker to
a state of which she is not unaware. Jahan and Hamid (2019) studied such euphoria constructed
through letters to the editors in the newspapers and internet posts in news groups to reflect on the
construction of elite identity by Bangladeshi speakers of English. On the other hand, what does it
290
mean to read, write, or speak in somebody else’s language, a tongue that has achieved a superior
status on a global scale? ‘To speak’, as Fanon (2008, p. 8) put it in a much stronger dictum, “means
to be in a position to use a certain syntax, to grasp the morphology of this or that language, but it
means above all to assume a culture, to support the weight of the civilization”.
English is often propagated as one of the main means to secure lucrative well-paid jobs in the
contemporary neoliberal and market economy. How is it related to the centre that holds all the
markets globally through a common language – the rise of English as a business lingua franca (Du
Babcock, 2009; Gerritsen & Nickerson, 2009)? The perception that English is in demand held by
many participants in this study and by the general population in this country (see Hamid, 2016)
complement the language’s perceived hegemony as Phillipson (1992, 2004) opined. The ‘common
sense’ nature of discourse inscribed in the ‘order of discourse’ in a society assures the effectiveness of
any ideology due to the presence of a dialectical relation between discourse and society (Fairclough
& Wodak, 1997; Fairclough, 2010).When society or academia in general shares a common language
by following a specific order of discourse, the reflection of that was also traced in the language of
the administration. In order for teaching at the tertiary level in the PUs in Bangladesh, the faculties
are instructed to use English as the dominant medium of communication. The faculty evaluation
form, filled in by students – towards the end of the semester – includes an item that inquires to
what extent the faculty uses English in the classroom (always – not at all). That the teachers and
the students are monitored for using English is known to both the groups and they are expected to
comply with the official stand.When a student with limited language proficiency demands that “As
an English department student I want English to be the medium of instruction”, she complies with
the official stand. What the student might also accomplish here is, occupy the ‘responsibility’ of an
ideal ‘subject position’ (Althusser, 1971) of an English graduate with an aim to form a community
with like-minded individuals who believe in a specific ideology (e.g. language ideology).
Ideology is often best expressed through reflecting on what the ‘others’ do than on discussing
the position occupied by the current speaker, that is, the self (van Dijk, 2001). The following is
an example (from a mid-term script) of how one of the participants in the study constructed her
being vis-à-vis her speech community. In her words,
I studied under both Bengali curriculum and English curriculum…People often think
that if a person knows how to speak English should get more privilege, maybe it’s
because the number of English-speaking people is not more enough. When the number
of bilingual people will increase, the status of “privilege” language will fade away with time and
people will realize that it is just another language and being fluent in it is just another skill (sic;
emphasis added) (MSY18Sem1P5).
To note, the author of the above text enjoys a ‘privileged’ status in comparison to her many other
course-mates. It is possible that she developed that critical lens which made her theorise that
with an increased number of English-users, the mystic or magical content of the commodity
English would disappear. With ‘right’ kind of infrastructure, the gap between the fluent and the
ones suffering from ‘linguistic insecurity’ would reduce drastically.
Another student-participant, in his semester-final project, expressed his ideas in a deeply
personal tone to contextualise the use of English in Bangladesh:
I had to go through a lot of trouble personally to be able to grasp the second language…As
English came to this land by the colonizers, we still have the intention to please our masters
by speaking their language. In order to achieve that goal, we focus only on the language,
not the knowledge (sic; emphasis added) (FPY17Sem1P2).
291
To comment on the MOI he continued by referring to his personal journey:
I always wanted English as the medium of instruction as I am comfortable in it…I believe my opinion
was prejudiced. As I have been told all my life to be good in English and laughed at when failed to do
so, I thought there is no other option than English, moreover, I am a student of English department.
If I do not stand up for the language then who would…most of the people in our country like
sharing their thoughts in their mother tongue.They grow up with an inferiority complex if they
do not have the skills to speak in English or understand it.They belittle themselves for not knowing
the ‘Global Language’. We have been barring majority of the people the access to knowledge. The
inequality prevents them to grow up in a healthy way (sic; emphasis added) (FPY17Sem1P2).
Similar to most articulations, the above excerpt too moves between ‘I’ and ‘They’. Individuals, as
members of a society, speak for themselves and for others too.They build in Anderson’s (2006) terms,
an ‘imagined community’, as they share common ideas in relation to ethnicity, nationhood, and
national and global language, and so on. From the above discussion, it is obvious that students have
mixed reactions to the adoption of English as an MOI at the tertiary level. The students have cited
reasons for and against the status of English and their use of Englishes. The students acknowledged
the fact that the university, the people in general, and the market celebrate the use of English; they
are weak against the hegemony of English; however, they also knew that what their relationship was
like with the local and the global language.This section can be concluded by stating that the current
indiscriminate adoption of English made by the private tertiary institutions needs to be re-read. In
this connection,Tollefson’s (1991, p. 16) assertion is significant, as he says, “Language planning policy
means the institutionalization of language as a basis for distinctions among social groups”.
Code-mixing, code-meshing, and/or translanguaging:

A way to construct knowledge
In the context of private tertiary education, knowledge building relies heavily on English.
Consequently, it is an advantage for the students who are comfortable in communicating in both
L1 and L2 or only in L2 English, while it creates an obstacle in learning for the ones who are not
competent in English. Participants in their English language classes, throughout their institutional
life, received bilingual instruction. Hence, at this level of postgraduate learning, their expectations
for bilingual instruction is perhaps not ‘strange’ either. One of the most often discussed topics in
WE classes was the viability of both Bangla and English as a MOI and the acceptance of code-
switching in class. To explain her position on code-mixing, one of the students wrote in her
mid-term examination script that
According to my thoughts, the ideal language mix in the MA in English classroom

should be a code-mixing class, rather than a monolingual approach. Using code-switching
can be a useful tool for both faculty and students in order to establish a better communication
medium between the teacher and the students.
English will always be the primary medium of communication but introducing the
classroom in a code-mixing approach will definitely make a difference in the process of
education in the long run. Some students will be definitely comfortable in monolingual
approach but there will be some students who will prefer some code-switching maybe
because of the language barriers – I don’t know. However, introducing code-mixing approach
can make teaching and learning more efficient and dynamic at the same time (sic; emphasis
added) (MSY18Sem3P3).
292
In the above example, the student argues that she and her fellow classmates would be benefitted
if the classroom is not monolingually biased towards English. Instead, both English and Bangla
should be allowed as an MOI and code-mixing would help them to achieve their communica-
tive goals easily rather than Bangla or English. If they learn it in Bangla, they may not be able
to articulate their ideas, information, or position in exam scripts or assignments and PowerPoint
slides for presentation, mostly due to the jargons and registers of academic English. Hence, the
majority of participants from the Bangla-medium background opined that classroom discussions
should be conducted by code-mixing. An extensive exposure to English may gradually make
their expressions appear translingual or make them use English, for instance, as a lingua franca.
Canagarajah (2007) may have similar structure of English in his mind when he used the concept,
lingua franca. According to him,
Lingua franca English does not exist outside the realm of practice; it is not a product,
but a social process that is constantly being remade from the semiotic resources available
to speakers, who are always embedded in localities, and who are always interacting with
other speakers (in Pennycook, 2010, p. 685).
While code-mixing has been cited by the participants as a preferred practice to lessen the
language problem in an English-medium classroom, some of them believed that the medium
in the classroom should always be English. Referring to a particular student the point can be
glossed as
There should be a balance between the use of English and Bangla because it is very hard to
understand all the materials in English…classroom discussions should be conducted by code
switching because it makes easier to understand the content of the subject (sic; emphasis added)
(CLDY19Sem1).
The current study shows that while some participants have joined enthusiastically the race for
uniting with the global English movement, many have opted not to participate by staying silent
in the classroom (see David & Govindasamy, 2005 and Sultana, 2014 for an account of silencing
through language in Malaysian and Bangladeshi contexts respectively). In Bangladeshi English-
mediated classrooms, especially in the content-based classrooms, where the students need to
participate actively to negotiate or construct knowledge, and not just to establish how much
English they know, students often choose to remain silent. A general observation while teaching
WE course at the master level is that when students are asked to bring in typical examples
from Bangladeshi contexts with reference to, for instance, David Crystal’s classic arguments
on global Englishes or Ruanni Tupas’s recently made popular concept of ‘unequal Englishes’,
they would ask for permission to discuss some sections in Bangla. That the issue of global and
unequal Englishes has affective dimension could be the reasons why the students want to articu-
late their arguments in the mother tongue or by mixing codes. In addition, they would ask
whether they could explain the crucial theoretical arguments in Bangla, as they could not often
grasp the complex register of academic English. Staying silent in the classroom, as a common
reality, evolved from students’ opinions, has been echoed in the following excerpt (see also
Sultana, 2014):
Though I did not have so much difficulty in English but I have seen some students who
were afraid of voicing their responses in the class. They did not feel safe and secure[d] in
the classroom. Consequently, they failed to have academic socialization experiences. In
293
fact, they remained silent, unnoticed by both teachers and other students. They did not
have the opportunity to construct their knowledge because of their silence…Students did not
understand the class lectures which were all conducted in English (sic; emphasis added)
(INTY19Sem1P4).
Students would choose to participate in discussions when they are confident in speaking the lan-
guage and the confident ones, as it appeared, often came from privileged socioeconomic classes,
urban areas, and good primary and high school education backgrounds. From the face-to-face
interviews and classroom discussion what became obvious is that the less-proficient speakers
coming from humble background would not enter an academic argument since they were afraid
of ‘losing their face’ in front of the confident ones (see Sultana, 2014, 2016, 2018).
Medium of instruction of my university is English. All of my course teachers were used

to spoken in English obviously. But I felt sometimes very embarrassing because of my poor
English and English pronunciation. My background is Bangla medium of instruction (sic;
emphasis added) (INTY18Sem3P2).
By acknowledging the possibility of losing face, language users accept the fact that possession
of the ‘symbolic capital’ is crucial (see Bourdieu, 1991). For some students, code-mixing is an
option when they lack proficiency in English. By contrast, for the ones who are competent in
English and only occasionally use Bangla, code-mixing or translanguaging becomes a creative
space to produce locally relevant global knowledge. This is also the moment when the less-
proficient English speakers, though erroneously, start believing in that their linguistic compe-
tence represents their intellectual abilities, as English is the scale which measures their worth
within the marketplace of English. Hence, the adoption of the policy of medium of English in
the universities, one might say, serves the interests of those students who own the ‘right’ linguistic
capital, simply because they come from a privileged socioeconomic background enjoying a com-
bination of different forms of economic, cultural, and symbolic capital.
Conclusion
The questions posed in this chapter regarding the students’ relationship with English against
its pervasive presence at the institutional and a glocal level have been answered through the
students’ discourse. The chapter shows that for many individuals an ‘uncanny fluency’ in English
is perceived as the key to success in the context of PUs as well in the job sector in Bangladesh.
When a student fails to articulate their position in the classroom in English, that is, when they
cannot participate in the academic discussions, they are perceived as intellectually incompetent
(see Sultana, 2016). Their linguistic capital appears to serve as the measuring scale for their intel-
lectual abilities or indicators for professional successes in the era of rapid globalisation.
Undoubtedly, PUs have created that space in the country to accommodate students every
academic year who cannot enter public universities due to seat limitations. When the presence
of student and teacher politics in the public universities has often been suggested as a reason
behind the country’s ‘failing’ tertiary education (Alam, Rabby, Boon, Khan, & Hoque, 2011), PUs
under strict monitoring minimise ‘session jam’ and bureaucratic hassles which public institutions
may not avoid in this country. The absence of politics and political awareness among students in
the PUs, however, can be cited as the reason for their lack of critical awareness, including their
inabilities to fight for the ‘right’ education system (e.g. bilingual classroom). On the one hand,
there is this ideal picture of English-speaking global citizens surfacing on the glossy brochures
294
of PUs, and on the other, students struggling inside classrooms to contribute in the making of
locally relevant knowledge. As a result, PUs have become new sites of neo-colonisation, creating
spaces of power-play and struggle and it needs an immediate decolonisation and de-eliticisation
of English with an introduction of multilingual education system.
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19
INVESTIGATING GENDER
EQUITY IN A PRIMARY LEVEL
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOK
IN BANGLADESH
Afroza Aziz Suchana
Introduction
School education plays an important role in raising awareness among students. School instruc-
tional systems may deliver the dominant social, cultural, and religious beliefs to young learners
(Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990). Consequently, they may be exposed to social, cultural, or religious
practices that empower certain segment of the society, disempowering others based on language,
culture, ethnicity, or gender. For example, Hall (2014) reveals that teaching materials play a cru-
cial role in determining students’ perceptions of female and male roles in society. Therefore,
school textbooks need to represent women and men with an equal power and participation in
the occupational to the domestic field. If women are projected by patriarchal social structure
which shows the power of men over women, an oppressive state of social and economic rela-
tionship will be exposed to the children. Power is exercised as a form of oppression (Foucault,
1978). Foucault develops his view of power as productive rather than repressive. Domination of
male turns a female into a docile body. Foucauldian power is not the domination of one gender;
instead it generates knowledge and cultural order that sustain gender inequality.
Equal power and participation of women and men contribute to the cultural and socio-
economic development of a country. Amruthraj (2012) recognises the significance of women’s
participation in the socio-economic development and shows that primary textbooks can play a
significant role in this regard. According to him, learners of primary schools are in formative stage
and textual materials have most important influences on the young growing minds.
In Bangladesh, primary education begins at Class I and continues till Class V. The age limit of these
students ranges from 6 to 10 years. This age group is considered the significant phase of learning
when children develop emotional competence, language skills, and analytical ability. Hall (2014)
mentions that in these early adolescence, children become uncertain about who they are and what
they want to become in future. She finds that in this period children receive their earliest education
about norms, culture, and the world around them. Amruthraj (2012) adds that in this age youngsters
develop a sense of femaleness and maleness. Hence, it is important to monitor the teaching and
learning materials that they are exposed to.
This chapter investigates English for Today (EfT) of Class V published by the National
Curriculum and Textbook Board (2017) with a view to exploring if any discrimination between
male and female characters exists. Numerous attempts have been made to analyse gender equity
298
Investigating gender equity
in textbooks throughout the world. In Bangladesh, some studies expose gender representation in
English language teaching (ELT) materials. Kabir (2015) finds unfair manifestation of women in
the EfT textbook of Class IX and Class X, but no substantial research has been done for Class V.
Hence, this chapter examines the linguistic and non-linguistic representation of gender in this
textbook. It analyses the use of nouns, pronouns, and titles attributed to women and men. It also
examines equity in characterisation and professional and domestic roles.Visibility and participa-
tion of women and men are also analysed here.This chapter will enable textbook writers to make
appropriate adaptations of teaching materials and ensure the development of critically sensitive
among younger generations.
Gender equity and the role of textbook

When children start schooling, textbooks appear as the core accessible resource for learning.Thus,
textbooks become an important tool to shape the personality of young learners. They internalise
various concepts from textbooks. As a result, these textbooks act as apparatus to develop a sense of
equal power and social values. Since children are the agents of social change and textbooks are the
agents of enlightenment for them, children learn about moral values, ethics, human rights, power,
peace, and non-violence as well as the meaning of life from textbooks. Hence, it is expected that
textbook should ensure equal representation of men and women, so that children may understand
the significance of gender equity from a young age. Lu and Lin (2014) mention that learning
activities at school need to pay attention on gender bias, either in an obvious or in a hidden way.
Lee (2011) also argues for gender equity in textbooks as the instructional materials have been
considered key mechanisms of socialisation, and the youth are endowed with the values and
attitudes of differentiated gender roles included within textbooks all the time.
To eliminate discrimination, textbooks must contain gender equitable contents. If textbook
contains gender biased attitude and ideas, this may have a negative impact on young learners.
Stereotypical gender roles in textbooks lower schoolgirls’ expectations of themselves and limit
their full potential (Yasin et al., 2012). Both young boys and girls learn about moral values from
textbooks and they might follow the textual materials and put the sexist behaviours or attitudes
into practice. Conversely, textbooks without gender bias can be a great source of learning for
them (Lu & Lin, 2014).
However, textbook writers or material developers do not always produce stereotypical represen-
tation of gender intentionally.Yasin et al. (2012) mention that gender bias and stereotyping may
be unconsciously reproduced in textbooks.Whether willingly or unwillingly represented, gender
bias may hinder the development of the society as it is a reflection of one’s biased gender roles for
females or males in the formulation of social development (Lu & Lin, 2014). Therefore, raising
consciousness among the textbook writers may eliminate unfair account of gender.
Gender representations in textbooks

Various research studies expose gender exploitation in the school textbooks. In the context of
Bangladesh, Kabir (2015) analyses some units from English for Today (EFT) of Class IX and Class X
published by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (2012). He notices that female characters
are presented stereotypically. He finds that women are helped by men in the kitchen, but they are not
seen in the diverse roles of a village chief, driver, vendor, or security guards. In his conclusion, Kabir
(2015) comments that women are not appropriately projected in the school textbooks.
Researchers find inequality in gender in the use of language of the textbook writers which
may create oppressive social state. Language is not simply an instrument of communication,
299
Afroza Aziz Suchana
rather linguistic competence is related to social origin (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990). Along with
linguistic representation researchers have also focused on non-linguistic representation which
refers to visual representation, including images, photographs, and illustrations. Amruthraj (2012),
Bahman and Rahimi (2010), Elkholy (2012), Fahim (2010), Hartman and Judd (1978), Islam
and Asadullah (2018), and Mills (1995) find both linguistic and non-linguistic features creating
gender discrimination in their studies.These researchers conducted their investigation on gender
equity from different perspectives, some of which are the use of nouns, pronouns, firstness, choice
of words, occupation, visibility, characterisation, domestic role, and negligence.
Inequality in the use of nouns and pronouns are found by Bahman and Rahimi (2010). In
their study on gender representation in the three volumes of Iranian English textbooks, they
find unfair manifestation of women and men. Presence of men is more highlighted than that of
women regarding names, nouns, pronouns, and adjectives attributed to them. They find that, the
percentages of all the names, nouns, pronouns, and adjectives of men are 79%, 78.8%, and 71.5%
but those of women are 21%, 21.2%, and 28.5% in the volumes respectively. While analysing
six English language textbooks of Egyptian primary schools, Elkholy (2012) finds inequality in
the use of male referring nouns. The study finds 55% male names and 45% female names. Thus,
male–female gap is found across different societies and cultures. Though Iran and Egypt are
known to be more ‘conservative’ countries, they trace the necessity of gender equity in textbooks
to reduce inequality in the society. This research finds the necessity of gender equitable textbook
in Bangladesh because without ensuring equal opportunity various development goals of the
government cannot be achieved (Ferdaush & Rahman, 2011).
Equity is not maintained with regard to firstness. Firstness in the text means placing male terms
before the female (Bahman & Rahimi, 2010).This is one kind of linguistic discrimination.The order
of the male terms coming before the terms referring to females is another aspect of the unequal
treatment of women and men and this, in fact, prioritises men (Mills, 1995). Bahman and Rahimi
(2010) find that when both female and male referring terms come in a text, they are almost always
the male term that exceeds the female term.
Discrimination is also found in the choice of words by the textbook writers. Islam and
Asadullah (2018) find the use of ‘Mrs.’ or ‘Miss/Ms.’ an important category in linguistic sexism.
The term ‘Mrs.’ identifies a female in terms of her male counterpart. By choosing discriminatory
words, textbook writers present discriminatory personality traits of male and female characters.
Islam and Asadullah (2018) also point out that through words women are often found weak,
victimised, passive, and subordinate. On the other hand, the images of male characters reflect
quite the opposite personality; they are portrayed as bold, brave, and active agents in society.
Inequality between men and women is not limited by the use of language, rather inequality
may also be found by non-linguistic manifestation, semiotic presentation, or by hidden messages.
Male and female characters are often portrayed in distinct professional roles. Discrimination
in occupations is traced by Amruthraj (2012). He works on gender bias in English language
textbooks taught in government primary schools in Tamil Nadu, India, through a gender sensi-
tive perspective. He observes professional roles of men and women in the textbooks. He finds 31
occupations in those books where nurses and teachers are consistently women, whereas doctors,
police officers, postal service persons, pilots, drivers, carpenters, and soldiers are all men. He finds
these textbooks reinforce the stereotypical images that men dominate the public sphere and
women the private sphere. In addition, the significant contribution that women make to the
economy and to the well-being of their families is all too often ignored.
In terms of visibility, equity is not maintained in many cases. Hartman and Judd (1978)
expose that in several texts women suffer from low visibility. They find that in most cases male
referents heavily outnumber the female. The ratio of male to female referents is found to be
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63%–37%. They also reveal a scarcity of women characters in reading texts. In reading passages,
male characters appear more frequently than female characters. These findings are significantly
important because unequal treatment of men and women is not limited to textbooks; rather, it
can be extended to other aspects existing in a society (Bahman & Rahimi, 2010).
In gender-stereotyped textbooks, women are mostly characterised as passive and subordinate and
lack leadership qualities. Fahim (2010) explores gender bias in characterisation in Pashto textbooks
in Afghanistan. He finds submissive roles of women. A woman wishing to participate in social
activities has to take permission from her husband or elder men in her family.Though Bangladesh
has more progressive pictures, it is needed to investigate whether passive and derogatory roles of
women exist in Bangladeshi textbook as Fahim indicates that underrepresentation of females does
not only exist in Afghan textbooks rather it is quite common in other developing countries.
Islam and Asadullah (2018) find that the high percentage of female characters in domestic
roles is one of the common forms of gender-stereotyped representation in textbooks. They
investigate secondary level textbooks of four countries – Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, and
Indonesia. Their findings also reveal that females are presented in domestic roles four times more
than their male counterparts. The four-country average female representation in different social
roles is 31.2%.They clearly find a high female representation in the domestic role category (with
a share of 85%). Though the four countries vary significantly in terms of social progress, these
countries possess the same patriarchal social structures. Islam and Asadullah (2018) reveal that
women in these countries are socially marginalised and underrepresented, especially in Pakistan.
In Pakistan, women are socially and culturally disadvantaged.Women’s participation in the labour
market is very low. Therefore, gender discrimination in Pakistani textbook is not surprising. In
contrast, Bangladeshi women are involved in diversified occupations, but Islam and Asadullah
(2018) notice that contribution of women is disregarded in the textbook of Bangladesh. They
find high female exclusion in the Bangladeshi textbook. They also notice some discriminatory
attributes used for females and males. For males the attributes include disciplined, responsible,
sensible, visionary, legendary, and so on. They provide some examples like ‘Tisha’s room is always
messy’ and “Jamil, a sensible character who is lauded for avoiding overcrowded boat and saving
his life” (Islam & Asadullah, 2018, p. 23). Moreover, they find the absence of male characters in
domestic roles. Unpaid domestic work everywhere is regarded as women’s work, even when
they are important they are often devalued and unacknowledged (Amruthraj, 2012). The study
of Amruthraj (2012) on an English language textbook in Tamil Nadu finds that when women
are shown in unpaid jobs like sweeping, cooking, washing, packing, fetching water, making tea,
and looking after children, the only gender-sensitive image is a boy cleaning a vessel and helping
his mother along with his sister. Thus, underrepresentation of women is found both in Muslim
majority (Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Indonesia) communities and non-Muslim majority
(India) community. Islam and Asadullah (2018) expose passive and derogatory roles of women in
the secondary level textbook of Bangladesh.
Another common form of gender stereotypical representation is negligence or omission
of female characters. Negligence is found in the textbook when one gender is ignored or
underrepresented in a textbook. Kabir (2015) finds negligence of female characters in EfT of
Class IX and Class X. In Unit 7 of the book he finds four successful and famous people of the
world are included. Among them three are men and only one is a woman. Besides, he finds the
omission of female names. For example, in the textbook, Rony’s mother and Mouli’s mother
are known by their son’s and daughter’s names respectively. They do not have their own names
(Kabir, 2015). Women’s individual identity is denied here.
However, it is beyond doubt that unequal treatment of gender in the textbooks can be an
obstacle to gain gender-balanced knowledge. Blumberg (2008) studies gender equity in school
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textbooks. His case studies from Syria, India, Romania, China, and the United States find unfair
treatment between men and women in the textbooks and he mentions this discrimination as
virtually an invisible obstacle on the road to gender equality in education.
Thus, review of the existing literature spanning from 1978 to 2018 in diversified socio-cultural
contexts shows gender stereotypes. These research studies provide the rationale for the pre-
sent study. The current study traces whether discriminatory representation of women exists in
Bangladeshi primary textbook as the sense of gender equity needs to be addressed at the earliest
stage that shapes up the mindsets of the young learners.
Methodology
This chapter looks for gender equity in the English language textbook of Class V. The learners of
Class V are very young and belong to the formative stage. This age is highly significant to develop a
sense of femininity and masculinity.Therefore, textbooks written for this age group of learners should
contain gender equitable contents.To find out equity in the textbooks, this study carries out content
analysis method which can be either qualitative or quantitative or both.White and Marsh (2006, p. 22)
characterise content analysis as ‘a systematic method to generate findings and put them into context’.
In order to investigate and interpret data from the textbook, a mixed-method approach is applied
which combines both quantitative and qualitative data collection processes. By using this approach,
the study includes statistical information and at the same time observes whether the textbook portrays
social prominence and potentials of women in different activities and occupations. Dornyei (2007)
finds the limitations of using one method. He mentions that quantitative researchers have seen quali-
tative research as being too context specific, whereas qualitative researchers usually view quantitative
research as overly simplistic, decontextualised, and reductionists in terms of its generalisations. In this
backdrop, this chapter uses mixed methods approach which allows the researcher to combine numeric
figure and contextual reality together.
In order to investigate gender equity, the entire content of the EfT book is examined focusing
on some criteria. At first, this chapter measures the contents of the textbook in terms of fre-
quency. For example, it
• quantifies how frequently male/female referring nouns and pronouns appear

• analyses the frequency in firstness, that is, how many times females/males come first
• counts the frequency of the images representing female/male characters
• explores the number and types of occupations associated with men/women
Then the chapter applies qualitative content analysis approach. It traces the way how female and
male characters are depicted in the texts and in the images. Their personality traits are revealed.
The choices of words by the textbook writers are interpreted carefully. How men and women
are discriminated in the professional roles and in the domestic roles are explored. It also points
out how female characters are subjugated in some cases. This chapter also interprets the under-
lying messages that the young learners may perceive through discriminatory representation of
gender. Such qualitative data helps the researcher to investigate and obtain data about both the
individual and the broader social context.
Moreover, this chapter searches whether repressive or productive power is established between
men and women in the textbook. Both qualitative and quantitative data help the researcher to
reveal the status of men and women in the textbook. After multiple reading of EfT textbook, the
researcher counts female and male referring terms, titles, generics throughout the stories and
exercises to get the statistical information. Such information is an important feature of quantitative
302
research as it is centred on numbers. Dornyei (2007) mentions numbers as a powerful tool and
at the same time he mentions it as powerless as it is devoid of context. Hence, the chapter uses
mixed methods to analyse the underlying or hidden meaning of texts and illustrations.
Description and interpretation of data from Eft for Class V

There are a total of 25 units in the EfT textbook of Class V. Content analysis has been carried
out from both linguistic and non-linguistic perspectives. Findings from both quantitative and
qualitative data analysis processes along with interpretation of data are presented in the following.
Use of nouns and pronouns

In order to find out whether men and women are treated equally, total numbers of nouns and
pronouns referring to male–female characters have been counted from the EfT textbook.
Table 19.1 shows that in the textbook male-referring nouns outnumber the female-referring
nouns.The percentage of male-referring nouns is 58%, whereas that of the female-referring nouns
is 42%. Referring to more male nouns indicates more activities of them.
Table 19.1 Male–female referring nouns and pronouns
Nouns referring Nouns referring Total Pronouns referring Pronouns referring Total
to male characters to female characters to male characters to female characters
Frequency % Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %

29 58 21 42 50 101 47.20 113 52.80 214
Male-referring nouns also dominate in the images.

Figure 19.1 shows that under the four cakes four names are used where three of these denote
the names of men, ‘Zakir’, ‘Robin’, and ‘Ashoka’, and only one denotes female referent name
‘Aparna’. Highlighting one sex means devaluating the other.
Figure 19.1 References of more male nouns (English for Today, 2017, p. 59)
Using more male-referring words than female ones is one of the ways of under representing
women. Bahman and Rahimi (2010) find 63% male terms and 37% female terms in Iranian
textbooks. This is not unlikely in Iranian culture. In comparing with Iran, fewer gaps are found
in Bangladeshi textbook (58% male and 42% female). Surprisingly, Egyptian primary school
textbooks show fewer gaps than Bangladeshi textbook. Male names of 55% and female names
of 45% are found in the Egyptian textbooks (Elkholy, 2012). While in Egyptian society women
chiefly play the roles of mothers and wives, Elkholy recommends eliminating gender bias from
textbook to foster the sense of equity among learners. Unequal selections of words reduce the
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progress of education; therefore, Bourdieu and Passeron (1990) suggest reducing the manipula-
tion of words from educational system. By reading more male names in the textbook young learners may
shape up their idea that males are powerful and active agents in the society. On the other hand, using less female
names portray less participation of women, which may demotivate the young girls.According to Hartman and
Judd (1978), language learning is culture learning.They add that vocabulary used in classroom have cultural
importance. Thus, having more male names than females, learners will start believing that subordination of
women is the culture of the society.
Table 19.1 shows more female-referring pronouns than males. In the textbook 47.20% male-
referring pronouns (he/him) and 52.80% female-referring pronouns (she/her) are used. This
is an encouraging example but more could have been done. If more examples highlighting
female characters are represented by the textbook writers, girls will be conscious regarding their
rights and power as consciousness acts as a liberating force (Nicholls, 2005). If equity is found in
portraying female and male characters, both groups will be aware of their power and potentials.
Eventually, they will equally contribute to the society.
Firstness
Firstness or the quality of being first is one of the linguistic aspects in the representation of female
or male characters which shows the priority of the gender. Here, firstness is recorded by counting
how many times females or males are placed first. Then the examples have been included and
interpretation is added.
Findings from Table 19.2 expose that in 41% of cases, female-referring terms come first
whereas in 59% of cases, male-referring terms come first. Here priority of male characters
is found. Few examples have been illustrated from the EfT textbook. In Unit 1, Lessons 1
and 2, there are three characters: Saikat, his father, and mother. In the story, at first Saikat is
introduced, then his father, and lastly his mother is introduced. Patriarchal social structure is
reinforced here.
Table 19.2 Firstness in placing female or male
Females comes first Males come first Total
Frequency % Frequency %
07 41 10 59 17
In Unit 9, Lessons 5 and 6, there are some questions to be answered by the students. The
questions are as follows:
1. What is the person’s name?

2. What does he/she do?
3. What does he/she work?
4. What time does he/she start work?
5. Does he/she like his/her job? Why or why not?
6. What do you think about his/her job?
In the above questions (Nos. 2–6), male-referent terms ‘he’ comes first. Unequal representation is
found here as ‘she’ comes later in each question. Besides these, in Unit 20, Lessons 7 and 8, there
is a fill in the blanks exercise. “A ……………. flies planes. He or she travels around the world.”
This example also shows firstness of man.
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Findings of Table 19.2 and the above examples indicate that male attributed terms precede
the females in the EfT textbook. Such ordering reinforces the second place status of women
(Hartman & Judd, 1978). Mills (1995) also mentions that firstness represents unequal represen-
tation which prioritises men. Thus, the priority of one gender exposes social inequality in
the textbook.
Choice of words
In the EfT textbook of Class V, linguistic sexism is found by the diction of the writers.
Discriminations are found by titles, vocabulary, and expressions.
In Unit 2, Lessons 3 and 4, two women are introduced as Mrs. Haider and Ms. Smith. Here,
one male character is also introduced at the same time named Mr. Saha. All of them are working
people. In the case of Mr. Saha, the question does not come whether he is married or unmar-
ried, but when Mrs. Haider is introduced, it shows that she must disclose that she is married. In
the case of Ms. Smith, her marital status is not clear. Using the title Mrs. for one lady and Ms.
with another one, students might be curious about the marital status of the second one, but for
their male counterpart no such question will arise. The lesson explains the use of the titles in the
following ways:
For men, use Mr.With the full name, or just with the last name. For married women, use
Mrs. and add the husband’s last name. For all women, you can also use Ms. (Pronounced
Miz). Ms. does not tell you if a woman is married or not.
(English for Today, 2017, p. 8).
From this lesson, students may perceive that a woman must take up her husband’s last name
after marriage, since she has to take up the title ‘Mrs.’ after marriage. Also the book gives
examples of Ms. Smith. Here, students might be confused whether the last name Smith
is her husband’s or father’s name. In Unit 16, Lessons 1 and 2, another school teacher is
found named Mrs. Alam. When a female is addressed as ‘Mrs.’, it identifies her in terms of
her male counterpart. On the other hand, when someone is addressed as ‘Miss or Ms.’, then
it refers only to her identity. In Bangladesh, usually teachers are not addressed by ‘Mrs.’;
instead, their original names are used. Using one title (Mr.) for all men and three titles
(Miss, Mrs./Ms.) for women expose linguistic sexism. Sexism is commonly considered
as discrimination against people and sexist differences have adverse pedagogical values
(Hall, 2014).
Besides these, male characters often appear as stronger than females. In Unit 1, Lessons 4 and 5,
two young children Sima and Tamal appear in the Town Hall Language Club.They listen to CDs
and watch DVDs in English, or speak English with their friends. Equity is found here as one male
and one female are shown to practice English together. But they find a new person here named
Andy Smith. The male child Tamal knows him and Sima does not. And Tamal takes the responsi-
bility to introduce the girl with him. Again in Unit 2, Lessons 1 and 2, Tamal is shown very busy
as he was taking medicine to his grandmother. In Unit 12, Lesson 1, again conversation between
Andy and Tamal is found where Andy wants to know about some tourist spots in Bangladesh.
Andy already visited Cox’s Bazar. Then Tamal recommends Andy to visit Sreemangal and Saint
Martin’s Island. Here, Tamal shares his knowledge about various places and offers suggestions.
He seems very knowledgeable. The quality of leadership is reflected in Tamal’s character. Female
characters are not represented thus. These are common forms of gender-stereotyped representa-
tion in textbooks.
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From the above examples, learners may expect that boys will always be bold, active, and
responsible and girls will act under their guidance. However, in reality, in contemporary
Bangladesh, women are participating and acquiring success in all spheres of society. Here,
women are actively involved in politics and achieving success in sports. Such successful
stories of women are not projected in the textbook. Thus, truth is lost in the textual
materials.
Negligence of women
Omission of famous female characters is observed in the textbook. For example, a passage on
Kishorganj district in Unit 10, Lessons 1 and 2 mention that first woman poet of Bangla litera-
ture, Chandrabati, was born here, but no detailed information and no image is given. However, the
images of the famous male characters like writer Upendrakishore Roy Chowdhury, painter Zainul
Abedin, and the first acting president of Bangladesh Syed Nazrul Islam are given in the textbook.
This shows omission and negligence of successful female characters. The name of the famous poet
Sukumar Roy is also mentioned here. The unit also notes that the name Kishoreganj comes from
the name of an old landlord Brojakishore Pramanik or Nandakishore Pramanik which refers to
male names.
In these lessons, five famous male characters including the landlord are presented, whereas
only one female character is noted. The ratio of the famous male characters is 86% and
the ratio of the famous female character is 14%. Here, males outnumber females. Even
in these lessons some establishments of Kishoreganj district are mentioned where males
dominate as well. The fort of Isha Khan at Jangal Bari and Shah Muhammad Mosque at
Egaroshindhur are named after male characters and the Shiva temple is named after the
female poet Chandrabati.
Besides these, omission of female names is also found in the textbook. For example, in Unit
16, Lessons 1–4, female characters are portrayed as Sufia’s mother, Azim’s mother, and a female
teacher as Mrs. Alam. None of them is presented with their original names. Individual identities
of women are denied here.
These lessons clearly reflect male-dominating feature of the society. While reading the textual
materials and visualising the images, students may perceive that only famous male characters are
needed to be highlighted in the society, not the female ones. Gharbavi and Mausavi (2012) argue
that exclusion of women in textbook reflects writers’ ideology. If the writers represent inequality,
that manifests their belief that women cannot play determining roles in the society.Thus, omission or
negligence may limit the expectations of the girls. Consequently, boys may start developing a sense
of superiority.
Characterisation
Discrimination is noticed in characterisation. The story of Saikat’s family in Unit 3, Lessons 1
and 2, shows Saikat’s father is writing stories and listening to music when his mother is shown
busy with household chores. Stereotypical representation of women is vivid here. Lessons 3
and 4 of the same unit contains a chart showing the family’s evening activities where Saikat’s
father is engaged in reading and his mother in menial or mundane activities.
In addition, Sufia and her mother are engaged in a conversation in Unit 16, Lessons
1and 2 where the mother is portrayed stereotypically. Here, the daughter is seeking per-
mission to her mother for going out to play. The mother ensures whether her homework
is finished or not. The girl answers affirmatively and then the mother allows her to go and
306
suggests her not to play for too long. A father is not shown to look after the children in
this way.
Both Saikat’s and Sufia’s family activities present segregation of gender and manifest unequal
representation. According to Hartman and Judd (1978), textbook writers or teachers transmit
the values to the learners.The EfT textbook of ClassV exposes Saikat’s father’s involvement in the
creative and productive activities such as reading and writing stories. In contrast, the book
shows both Saikat’s mother and Sufia’s mother’s participations only in mundane activities like
household chores, child care, and so on. Such representations reflect subjugation of women,
which show repressive power. Foucauldian theory reveals that repressive power may produce
‘docile bodies’ that cannot bring any social change. Thus, oppressive relationship between men
and women will be an obstacle for establishing fair social and economic relations.
Visibility of men and women

Equal visibility of male and female characters is another criterion to achieve gender equitable
textbooks. In order to measure the visibility, the images of male and female characters have been
counted here.
Table 19.3 shows that only 42% female characters are portrayed through images,
whereas it is 58% for male characters. Findings indicate unequal representation of female
and male characters in the EfT textbook of Class V. In some images, it is not possible to
analyse the content. For example, it is not possible to identify female and male characters
clearly in the images of the workers, repairing the bridge (p. 94) and the river flooded
the field (p. 94).
Table 19.3 Visibility of men and women
Images of female characters Images of male characters Total
Frequency % Frequency %
66 42 90 58 156
Discrimination is found not only in the number of images but also in visualisation. In Unit
4, Lesson 5, women are visualised in fashion and health magazine. Here, men are visualised in
sports magazine. Women’s participation in sports is ignored. In reality, in 2018, Bangladeshi
women cricket team won the T20 series against Ireland. Earlier, they won women’s T20
Asia Cup in Malaysia. But women’s participation and success are underrepresented in the
textbook.
In Unit 17, Lessons 1 and 2, eight types of sports activities are shown through images, including
kabadi, cycling, weightlifting, badminton, volleyball, cricket, swimming, and football.
Figure 19.2 shows only two images of women where they are found playing football
and badminton. Men are portrayed in kabadi, cycling, weightlifting, and cricket. The images
of volleyball and swimming are not clear whether these are played by men and women.
Though in the text (p. 66), Anousha declares that she goes swimming and cycling, no image
is presented in the textbook.
Visualisation of women in fashion and health magazine reflects stereotypical form of feminine
identity as disciplinary practices such as dieting, beauty techniques, fashion tend to transform the
female ‘body’ as an object (Foucault, 1977). Hartman and Judd (1978) also state the necessity of
representing real and appropriate culture in the classroom. Women’s participation in sports is not
appropriately projected in the EfT textbook.
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Figure 19.2 Men and women in different sports activities (English for Today, 2017, p. 66)
Unequal treatment in occupation

Improper representation in occupation is clearly found in the textbook. Here, the total number
of occupations mentioned in the book is counted first. Then it is categorised as how many
professions are associated with men and how many are with women.
The findings of Table 19.4 show that male characters are presented as firefighter, banker, guide,
and so on.Women are presented as singer and teacher. Only in case of doctor both a female char-
acter and a male character are depicted.
Table 19.4 Men and women in occupation
Occupations Male Female
Teacher 0 2
Banker 1 0
Firefighter 1 0
Guide 1 0
Doctor 1 1
Singer 0 1
In Unit 9, Lessons 1 and 2, Raju is shown as a firefighter. He was inspired to choose this pro-
fession from a practical experience. There was a fire in Raju’s school when he was in Class V. A
group of firefighters came and put out the fire. Raju watched them from the school yard and felt
motivated to choose this profession. At first he did it as a volunteer and then he became a full
time firefighter.This is indeed a challenging job and Raju was inspired as all the firefighters were
men. Girls did not get them as their role models.
Unit 9, titled as ‘occupations’ contains some images which show discrimination in occu-
pational role. Figure 19.3 shows a man as a firefighter and Figure 19.4 shows a woman as a
singer. Here, a man is presented in a challenging profession and a woman in a less challen-
ging one.
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Figure 19.3 A man as a firefighter Figure 19.4 A woman as a singer

(English for Today, 2017, p. 34) (English for Today, 2017, p. 35)
Unit 19, Lessons 1 and 2 present a student magazine named ‘Sunshine Magazine’ (English
for Today, 2017, p. 74). The writer/editor of the magazine is a boy – Farhan Ahmed. From this,
young learners may perceive that only boys can be the writer/editor. Girls will be alienated.
The magazine consists of a story where students go to visit the Liberation War Museum. There
a guide welcomes them. To indicate the guide, male referent term ‘he’ is used which shows that
the guide is a man, not a woman. The guide here is presented as a dynamic and responsible
person. No female character is found to play such occupational role throughout the book.
Such discrimination in occupation again shows the superiority of men and subjugation
of women, which demonstrates traditional patriarchal social culture and repressive power.
Gharbavi and Mousavi (2012) find association between women’s limited occupational roles
and textbook writer’s culture. They mention that “a culture embodies and sustains social values
attached to male or female and it shapes people’s expectations about what types of jobs men
and women should do and how they should behave” (Gharbavi & Mousavi, 2012, p. 46). They
argue that in the contemporary society everyone knows that girls can be corporate leaders or
firefighters instead of housewives, while men can nurture babies without shame.
Domestic role
Depicting female characters in almost all domestic roles are one of the common features of
gender-stereotyped representation in textbooks. In the EfT textbook, Saikat’s mother, Sufia’s
mother, and Azim’s mother all are engaged in household chores. They cook, wash dishes, and
at the same time take care of their children’s studies. All of these activities are very time con-
suming, but these are devalued in society. No male character is depicted in domestic roles. Only
in Unit 16, Lessons 3 and 4, Azim is shown helping his mother when she requests him to put the
dishes in the kitchen (English for Today, 2017, p. 63). Women are working hard for long hours, but
their works are not recognised as all of these are unpaid jobs. Representation of women only as
mothers, wives, and low-status workers spreads the concept of sexism (Amruthraj, 2012).
However, women in Bangladesh are still dominated by a patriarchal system which enforces
dependence of women on men. Some initiatives already have been taken by the government to
address the problem of gender inequality, but the progress is slow (Ferdaush & Rahman, 2011).
Various reasons of gender discrimination are mentioned by the researchers. Preoccupied mindset of
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the people regarding the superiority of men is found as one of the substantial barriers by Ferdaush
and Rahman (2011).This chapter traces that school textbooks may play a significant role in shaping
the mindset of the young learners. Schools may directly administer the culture to the students
(Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990) and instructional materials of schools are powerful means of conveying
gender-biased language (Hall, 2014).Therefore, conscious choice of words and images of textbook
writers are needed to eliminate the unfair account of gender as goals of an educational program
cannot be achieved unless syllabus designers take into account the sex equality, human right, and
social justice (Gharbavi & Mousavi, 2012).Thus, the stance of textbook writers to project the power
and potentials of both men and women may ensure social change.
Conclusion
The research presented in this chapter identifies discrimination in the art of characterisation,
professional, and domestic roles of men and women in the EfT textbook of Class V. Visibility
and participation of women and men are not equally found in images and dictions. Female
referring terms precede the males only in the use of pronouns. In other cases, women were
underrepresented in the textbook. However, in contemporary Bangladesh, women are performing
well from sports to politics. Such biased manifestation may work as an obstacle in establishing
equal socio-economic relations and make the female students alienated from the society and the
world around them.Textual materials should not impose the idea on the learners that males have
more social prominence than females (Gharbavi & Mousavi, 2012). Thus, textbook writers and
curriculum developers have to choose gender-equitable materials wilfully as various research
studies show that sometimes gender-biased contents are added unwillingly. Therefore, raising
consciousness among the textbook writers is significant. The study will enable the authors to
eliminate domination and to project equal productive power of men and women in textbooks.
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20
IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION AND
PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE
OF GOVERNMENT COLLEGE
TEACHERS IN BANGLADESH
Introduction
What makes a good teacher is not methodology, or even ideology. It requires engagement with identity,
the way individuals conceive of themselves, that teaching is a state of being, not merely ways of acting
or behaving. (Danielewicz, 2001, p. 3)
Teacher professional identity has become a vibrant area of interest in the global field of teacher edu-
cation research over the last few decades (e.g. Izadinia, 2013; Johnson, 2006), as teachers are viewed as
active agents in the total teaching–learning process (Richards & Farrell, 2005) and researchers found a
sense of active relationship between professional identity and professional behaviour (Roshid, Haider,
& Mian, 2017;Tsui, 2011).The professional identity of language teachers is seen to be more complex
than that of any general subject teachers because the relationship of language teachers with their sub-
ject of teaching is very unique as language is ‘both the medium and content of instruction’ (Nunan,
2017, p. 165). Teachers of a second or foreign language are even more vulnerable to this question of
identity, especially when they are non-native users of the target language. Mastering and teaching
a new language beyond their mother tongue assign to them particular sets of identities, both pro-
fessional and individual. Without a clearer sense of those teachers’ roles, it becomes very difficult to
understand the complexities related with their identity development (Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, &
Johnson, 2005). Recent research has also started to recognise the influence of teachers’ language and
cultural identities and also of their social attitudes on the formation of the overall professional identity
of language teachers (Duff & Uchida, 1997; Freeman & Johnson, 1998). It is argued that as teachers,
especially of a foreign language, come from diverse languages and cultural backgrounds, their struggle
to cope with their situational as well as professional circumstances should be taken into consideration
while designing any teacher education programme (Au & Blake, 2003).
Researchers have presented different contributing factors of professional development and iden-
tity construction of teachers. It is argued that a teacher’s professional development is context-sensitive
and factor-bound (Olsen, 2008) and is influenced by their own beliefs and everyday professional
experiences (Goh & Chen, 2014). It is context-sensitive because teacher identity “is not fixed or static
orientation”, “is also shaped by the social context, by those he or she interacts with, and the activities
he or she is taking part in” (Richards, 2017, p. 141). It is factor-bound as identity formation is actively
influenced by and encompasses a number of individual as well as social factors.
312
Performance of government college teachers
In light of the above literature, in Bangladesh where English is taught as a foreign language, the
issue of professional development and identity formation of English teachers working in govern-
ment colleges seem quite complex. Recruited through the centrally administered Bangladesh Civil
Service (BCS) examination from fresh graduates of English literature, and later treated and trained
mostly as public service officers rather than as classroom teachers, these teachers do not require
any pre-service teacher education degree to enter the job of teaching.The course contents of the
four-month long foundation (in-service) training course organised by the National Academy
for Educational Management (NAEM) for the newly recruited government college teachers
indicate that those are not meant for any subject-specific teacher development programme. The
state-initiated pre and in-service teacher education programmes mostly focus on educating sec-
ondary school teachers. Most importantly, their recruitment status as government officers rather
than as classroom teachers allure them to desire and compete for administrative posts in gov-
ernment offices, which creates identity confusion. In this backdrop, question may arise that to
what extent the existing teacher education facilities are suitable for turning an ‘English litera-
ture graduate’ into an ‘English language teacher’ with the kind of pedagogical knowledge, skills,
professional attributes pertinent to English language teaching (ELT); whether English teachers
consider themselves as ‘English language teachers’ or ‘English literature teachers’. The most
important question, is whether these teachers feel about and own themselves as ‘teachers’ or as
‘government officials’ and what influence their professional feeling and ownership may have on
their professional performance.
English language teachers’ professional development and professional identity construction is
considered as a crucial issue for teachers’ professional performance. Evidence shows that while
English language teachers’ identity formation is a matter of active scrutiny in different country
contexts from different lenses, no or little research is conducted to understand the professional
development and identity formation culture that exists in Bangladesh. Through a juxtapos-
ition of three theoretical frameworks of identity formation, namely Lave and Wenger’s (1991)
theory of situated learning (communities of practice), Tajfel’s (1978) social identity theory, and
Simon’s (1995) concept of the image-text, this qualitative study attempts to explore how these
teachers negotiate their professional identity construction, and also how the constructed identity
influences their professional behaviour and performance.
Identity, its features and construction:

From personal to professional identity
Identity as a concept is complex in nature and has not yet been uniformly defined. Originating
from the socio-cultural reading of individuals’ development into social entities, identity concep-
tion suggests that individuals’ active interactions with their immediate internal as well as external
surroundings construct their self-image in the eyes of both themselves and others, and in the
process actively influence their socially recognised behaviour (Burke & Stets, 2009). Thus, it is a
process of both ‘being’ and ‘becoming’.
Identity, a multi-dimensional construct, originally denotes ‘our sense of self, or who we are’
(Luk, 2008, p. 121). Edwards (2013) defines identity as “the way we conceive ourselves as indi-
viduals or as members of groups or, indeed, the way others perceive and categorize us” (p. 1).
Luk’s definition focuses on individuals’ self-image as possessing certain idiosyncratic attributes,
whereas Edward’s definition emphasises the relational nature of identity as it relates to the
individuals’ self-image and situational behaviour with their social roles and social recognition.
Identity is related to cultural discourse as well, and Gee (2000) defines it as an ‘interpretive
system’ (p. 107), according to which identity basically means being recognised by others as a ‘kind
313
of person’ (p. 99). Multiple discourses in which the person inhabits lead to the construction of
multiple identities that are also contextual in nature (Pennington, 2015).
Identity features are multidimensional and multi-layered, and thus it is often multiple, relational,
dynamic, and sometimes conflicting as well (Duff, 2017; Jackson, 2017). Clarke’s (2009) nine-
layered categorisation of identity factors suggests that identity encompasses images of the person
at both individual and social level. Identity is often hybrid and relational, because “identities are
socially, culturally, and politically constructed” (Borg, 2017, p. 127). The individual identity is “an
organized representation of our theories, attitudes, and beliefs about ourselves” (Beijaard,Verloop,
& Vermunt, 2000, p. 108), and the social identity refers to the cultural and professional attributes
that the individual internalises in order to get identified as a member of a community through
recognition at societal and institutional level.
Regarding teacher identity, teachers are not considered ‘empty vessels’, rather they are “indi-
viduals…with prior experiences, personal values, and beliefs that inform their knowledge about
teaching and shape what they do in their classrooms” (Freeman & Johnson, 1998, p. 401).This belief
system is reflected in and also influences both the ‘being’ and the ‘becoming’ of a teacher. Beliefs can
“shape their dispositions, where they place their effort, whether and how they seek out professional
development opportunities, and what obligations they see as intrinsic to their role” (Hammerness
et al., 2005, p. 384). Deng’s (2007) idea of ‘professionalizing teaching’ for effective and sustainable pro-
gress in the education sector (as cited in Zhang & Said, 2014, Preface, p. xx) refers to a well-organised
teacher preparation strategy based on a proper diagnosis and addressing of the problems faced by the
teachers and this diagnosis should be based on a detailed analysis of the teachers’ own voices.
Teachers’ sense of identity shapes their contextual behaviour (Varghese et al, 2005) and “affects
the positioning in relation to, and hence interactions with students, colleagues, and the larger
teaching profession” (Pennington, 2015, p. 17). Teacher identity development is a process of
formation and transformation (Britzman, 2003), and “becoming a teacher—means including
the identity ‘teacher’ in one’s life” (Sumara & Luce-Kapler, 2001, p.65), and as such, it is a life-
long process (Reeves, 2017). Regarding language teachers’ professional identity, researchers
are of the view that as teachers’ professional, cultural, political, and individual identities shapes
their performances, identity formation becomes even more crucial in the non-native-English-
speaking (NNES) countries. As learning a language involves, along with learning the language
system, ‘adopting its cultural identities’ (Tong & Cheung, 2011, p. 60), the ‘becoming’ is done
through continuous exposure to the language culture through regular training and interaction
with others who have a close connection with the target language community. According
to Barkhuizen (2017), language teacher identities change “in social interaction with teacher
educators, learners, teachers, administrators, and the wider community, and in material inter-
action with spaces, places, and objects in classrooms, institutions, and online” (p. 4) (Figure 20.1).
Positive professional identity actively influences professional performance by inspiring the
self-esteem of the individual by enhancing motivation and inspiring sense of self-esteem and self-
efficacy (Burke & Stets, 2009; Roshid, Haider, & Mian, 2017). Rozaty (2017) finds that English
teachers’ teaching efficacy is significantly and positively related with their positive professional
and institutional identity. According to James-Wilson (2001), teachers’ professional identity helps
them to “make appropriate and effective adjustments in their practice and their beliefs about, and
engagement with, students” (p. 29). Day, Kington, Stobart, and Sammons (2006) suggest that in
the process of identity formation, teachers try to balance three dimensions: a personal dimension,
a professional dimension and a situational dimension, and this balancing affect their performance.
The above discussion shows that teacher identity is an important aspect of teacher develop-
ment, readiness, and performance. In order to ensure teacher preparedness, teachers’ self-image
and their expectations as well as their frustrations must be explored.
314
Figure 20.1 Identity construction process and features
Conceptual framework of the study

This study is informed by a juxtaposition of three specific theoretical frameworks, namely Lave
and Wenger’s (1991) and Wenger’s (1998) theory of situated learning (communities of practice),
Tajfel’s (1978) social identity theory, and Simon’s (1995) concept of the image-text. This juxta-
position is inspired by Varghese et al.’s suggestion that no single framework is self-sufficient to
provide specific explanation to the complexities of identity formation.
Lave and Wenger’s (1998) Community of Practice Theory defines identity as “an integral
aspect of a social learning theory and separable from issues of practice, community, and meaning”
(p. 145), implying that identity emerges from a sense of belonging within a community of
practice which is achieved through engagement, imagination, and alignment. The Legitimate
Peripheral Participation theory by Lave and Wenger (1991) focuses on the development of
newcomers into experienced professionals and members of a community of practice by par-
ticipating in simple and low-risk, yet productive and necessary, tasks which give them access to
the vocabulary and principles of the practitioners of that community. Communities have three
fundamental characteristics: domain, community, and practice. The basic of this theory is the
accumulation and dissemination of practical knowledge (knowledge management) in a particular
domain by a practitioner community through practice of sharing and sustained interaction over
a period of time. It is both a ‘bottom-up’ and a ‘top-down’ process, denoting that the practice of
sharing requires both individual and collective participation.
315
Establishing a connection between identity and social categorisation, Tajfel’s (1978) social
identity theory suggests that a person’s self-image is based on their group membership in
the society. A person’s affiliation with various social groups based on the varying and mul-
tiple identities they hold in the society creates a sense of belongingness with those par-
ticular in-groups and produces a sense of recognition of being a part of the social world. This
in-group affiliation in turn creates a sense of discrimination with the other groups of people,
the out-groups, thus contributing to the development of an ‘us’ vs.‘them’ mentality and even-
tually leads to the development of a competing identity. This total process passes through
three consecutive cognitive processes: social categorisation, social identification, and social
comparison. Self-esteem is maintained when group comparisons are favourably observed. This
competing identity often creates a feeling of identity threats in the group members originating
from the perceived devaluation of the perceived competence of the group. The most prominent
among the various forms of identity threats experienced by the group members is the social
identity threat, in which they feel that their group is not being acknowledged as a separate
entity with unique characteristics and they are being deprived of various opportunities. This
kind of threat is mostly felt by the professional groups resulting in professional dissatisfaction
and performance crisis.
Simon’s image-text concept suggests that identity formation is actively influenced by the
image others form about and express in front of the individuals. If the out-group community
does not hold positive image about a particular professional identity, the in-group members
might feel deprived, and thus depressed. This sense of depression might negatively affect the
professional performance. Burke and Stets (2009) argue that identity creates self-esteem and self-
esteem has three major bases, namely self-efficacy, self-worth, and self-authenticity. When these
three are synchronised, the individual is inspired to behave consistently with the situation-specific
meanings and expectations. A juxtaposition of the above three theoretical frameworks, the pur-
pose of this qualitative study is to explore how government college English language teachers
in Bangladesh negotiate their professional identity construction and also how that constructed
identity influences their professional behaviour and performance.
Research aims and questions

The aim of this study is to explore the identity negotiation processes of the government college
English teachers and to relate it with their professional performances. The study addresses the
following specific research questions:
1. How do the Bangladeshi government college English teachers conceptualise and negotiate
their professional identity?
2. What factors do they identify as contributing to their identity development?
3. How does their professional identity affect their professional performances?
In fact, the main focus of interest is to explore how these teachers negotiate their dual identity,
that is, that of a government officer and a classroom teacher.
Methodology
This study adopted a qualitative approach to gain insights into the nature of identity and the
complexity cherished by the government college English teachers. The target phenomenon
in this study is ‘identity negotiation’ between that of a government officer and a classroom
316
teacher, and it involves human feelings. According to Strauss and Corbin (1998), “qualitative
methods can be used to obtain the intricate details about phenomena such as feelings, thought
processes, and emotions that are difficult to extract or learn about through more conventional
methods” (p. 11). As the problem is exploratory in nature, the qualitative approach is best suited
because it relies more on the views of participants and helps to obtain a deep understanding
(Creswell, 2012).
The data were collected through in-depth interviews of 19 English teachers teaching at
different government colleges in Dhaka city. These participants were selected on the basis of
convenience of the researchers. The respondents were recruited as English teachers through
competitive BCS examination in various years of intake, ranging from 14th BCS to 29th BCS
batches. Therefore, respondents have varying work experiences ranging from 8 years to 22 years
(see details in Table 20.1). Demographic information reveals that among the respondents, 7 are
male and 12 are female. A total 18 respondents are from English literature background, and only
two of them have specialisation in ELT. All of them received the four-month long foundation
training at NAEM, four received foreign training (though not on English teaching). Among
the 19 respondents, five work at intermediate level (Grades 11 and 12) colleges, and 14 work at
colleges where both intermediate and tertiary programmes are taught. The intermediate college
teachers do not get a chance to teach literature.
Table 20.1 Demographic information of the participants (total 19)
Educational qualification Gender Years of experience Training
M.A. in English literature: 15 Male: 7 Ranges from 14th Foundation only: 4

M.A. with both literature and Female: 12 BCS to 29th BCS Foundation and
linguistics: 1 29th: 1 (8 years) other training: 13
Linguistics and Ph.D.: 1 26th: 2 (12 years) Research training: 2
B.Ed./M.Ed. along with 24th: 6 (13 years) Foreign training: 4
M.A. in English literature: 2 22nd: 1 (∼15 years)
20th: 1 (∼16 years)
18th: 2 (∼20 years)
16th: 3 (22 years.)
14th: 3 (25 years)
For data collection, a semi-structured interview with open-ended questions was developed
based on literature review particularly based on the conceptual framework. The open-ended
questions allowed the participants “to best voice their experiences unconstrained by any
perspectives of the researchers or past research findings” (Creswell, 2012, p. 218). The interview
schedule was piloted and later revised to make it more aligned with the research questions. In
the convenient time of the participants, face-to-face interview was conducted with them. All
interviews were digitally recorded, and then transcribed thematically and analysed identifying
codes and subthemes followed by generating major themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Findings of
the study have been presented under major themes.
Findings
Keeping in alignment with the research questions, this section presents findings under the
umbrella of three major themes: teachers’ conceptualisation of their own professional identity;
factors contributing to the development of that identity; and finally, the relationship between
professional identity and professional performance.
317
Teachers’ conceptualisation of their professional identity

The respondents were approached to describe their self-image from two perspectives: firstly, to
explain their conceptualisation of their professional identity in general and secondly, to evaluate
their roles and performance as ELT teachers. The responses to both of these questions exhibit an
impression of confusion and identity crisis experienced by them. The responses to the question
how they would negotiate their professional identity between that of a teacher and a government
(cadre) officer revealed an identity confusion suffered by the education cadre professionals in
general in Bangladesh. Asked what identity they feel they really belong to, majority (9 out of 19)
of the respondents preferred a dual identity, both a cadre officer and a teacher, while seven pre-
ferred teacher identity, but with a lot of dissatisfactions with their situation. Only two preferred
cadre officer identity, and one was unsure about her preference.
Among the nine respondents who preferred dual identity, for two, the profession was not a
preferred selection, ‘rather an imposition’. According to one of these two respondents,
It was not my choice. My goal was to be something else. When I qualified for the BCS,
I was selected for the education cadre. When I started the profession, I explored myself
in a totally different situation. … I cannot say that I am happy, because it is related to
various socio-economic factors such as dignity, social recognition as well as material-
istic facilities.
The second respondent, a senior teacher confided that his becoming a teacher was just ‘inci-
dental’. According to the rest seven respondents of this group, the teacher identity was their
conscious selection, ‘a choice, not a chance’. They chose the profession out of their prior posi-
tive experiences with their teachers from their student life. However, now they are somewhat
dissatisfied with their situation, and feel that the cadre officer identity is required for recogni-
tion of their calibre in terms of social dignity and state-level recognition. They feel that despite
their higher entry-level qualification compared to their counterparts in other cadres, in terms
of material benefits and social dignity they are being deprived. In order to become a teacher, a
Masters-level qualification is a compulsory prerequisite, whereas in other cadres only a Bachelor
degree is enough. One of the female respondents confided that in the present social scenario
only the people possessing power are held in respect, and as teachers have no provision to exer-
cise power, they are not being shown the dignity they deserve. A cadre officer identity would
allow them an access to that power and dignity. As regards to material benefits, one respondent
observes that a professional from other cadres of their equal rank and batch gets an office room, a
car, and other facilities which ensure their job satisfaction.Teachers, on the other hand, are forced
to travel by public transport, they do not have a room where they can study and prepare them-
selves for taking classes.The lack of proper facilities with regard to their professional performance
de-motivates them.
According to three respondents, there should be a separate wing in the Public Service
Commission for teacher recruitment. Only those who are interested in teaching should be
recruited in this cadre. However, a female respondent from 24th BCS batch with 13 years of
job experience was quite bitter in her response, opposing the idea of a separate wing for teacher
recruitment because, as she puts it,
In that case, as is the situation in Bangladesh now, this profession will stand out as the
most neglected one. Now at least some people are joining it, be it by imposition or
whatever; if it is separated, nobody will even apply for it.
318
Two female respondents mentioned the issue of state-level recognition of the cadre, especially
referring to the exclusion of the education cadre from the Warrant of Precedence. One argues that
when she notices that even the principal of a government college does not have a mention and
does not even have a seat in any national programme held for all cadres, it truly hurts her sense
of dignity, which in turn affects her motivation as well as performance. Asked whether a change
in the recruitment system might in any way influence the situation, the majority response is a
negative. They feel that what is actually needed is ensuring proper workplace environment and
removing inter-cadre inequalities.
Examined from age and the length of experience perspectives, it is noticed that younger
teachers are more concerned than their senior colleagues about their identity and dignity. Among
the 19 respondents, 8 are with 22 years of experience on average and the remaining 11 are with
15 years of experience on average. Those who preferred dual identity are from the 15–20 years’
experience group.The senior respondents seem to have accepted the situation, as is evident from
one comment:
I never go for comparison in regards to dignity, because I feel that the respect that I earn
from my students which will continue even after my retirement, much outweighs the
deprivations inflicted on me.
While looking from a gender perspective, it appears to oppose the popular idea that females are
more comfortable in teaching profession and less concerned about professional identity. Among
the total respondents, 7 were males and 12 were females. Among the nine respondents who prefer
dual identity, three were males, and six were females. So it appears that professional identity con-
sciousness has now come out of gender bias.
The responses clearly show that these teachers are quite concerned about their social dignity.
Their dilemma with regard to their professional identity does not appear to emerge from any
lack of love for their profession; rather it evidences the sense of insecurity and pangs of negli-
gence suffered by the BCS education cadre personnel in general. There is a clear consensus that
they feel deprived when they compare themselves with their friends from other cadres; they
instantly feel the imbalance in dignity as well as material facilities provided.
In the negotiation of identity, the differentiation between a language teacher and a literature
teacher is also quite noteworthy. As majority of (17 out of 19) respondents are from literature
background and they are teaching language in the colleges, that also creates some discrepan-
cies with regard to their identity and performance. According to these respondents, their prior
experience with their literature teachers to a large extent influenced their choice of career; they
desired to become teachers of English literature out of their love for literature. But now they are
entrusted with the task of teaching language. Excepting only two, 17 teachers feel that at least
partial specialisation should be there in ELT. As one senior teacher says,
First of all, I want to make one thing clear that I am not an ELT teacher. I am purely a
teacher of literature.When ELT has been included in the syllabus, we started to prepare
ourselves for teaching ELT so that we can help our students …We don’t have any basic
training on this.
However, two participants who oppose the idea are of the view that teaching English for func-
tional use does not require in-depth study of language features. They emphasise that if English
teaching in Bangladesh is meant to be successful then there must be some specialised training for
EFL teachers. It was echoed by two-thirds of the teachers.
319
Factors contributing to the construction of professional

identity as an EFL teacher
The wide variety of constructs identified by the respondents as contributing to the construction of
professional identity of EFL teachers can be grouped into three categories: ‘professional attributes’,
‘pedagogical competencies’, and ‘institutional support’ (see also, Roshid, Haidar, & Mian, 2017).
Professional attributes include commitment (15 respondents); self-motivation (four respondents),
mental acceptance and a sense of belongingness to the profession (six respondents), student-oriented
wisdom and student management skills (four respondents); positive, dynamic, and attractive per-
sonality (four respondents); team-work skills; analytical skills, critical outlook; and finally, love for
research. Pedagogical competencies include sound subject knowledge (seven respondents); teaching style
(seven respondents); up-to-date information about the continuous developments in the ELT sector
happening globally (five respondents); continuous efforts to overcome the problems of working in
an NNES setting (two respondents). Institutional supports include professional and positive workplace
environment (eight respondents); adequate training facilities at the very beginning of the career
along with continuous opportunities for renewal and implementation facilities (10 respondents);
and recognition of professional excellence through social recognition (five respondents).
Among the personal professional attributes, ‘commitment’ emerges in the first position, and
mental acceptance emerges in the second position; and the two attributes appear to be closely
linked. According to one respondent, only those persons should come to teaching who cherish
a genuine passion for it; those who are self-analytical, student-friendly, dynamic, and above all,
dedicated to their vocation. The majority of responses indicate that teacher identity is mainly a
‘being’ rather than a ‘becoming’. As two respondents suggest, it is not possible to train a person
into teacher, because it is completely an individual journey. All the respondents suggested that
identity construction is better facilitated when commitment combined with proper training
facilities, because training boosts the confidence level by ensuring pedagogical competence.
Among the pedagogical competencies, sound subject knowledge and proper teaching style
have been mentioned as the highest imperatives. However, with regard to subject knowledge,
there is a mixed response about the necessity of ELT-based educational background of teachers
for becoming an effective ELT teacher. Majority teachers (14) feel that for teaching language at
the colleges, strict ELT background is not necessary; because in the government colleges the syl-
labus and the assessment system do not demand that much depth of knowledge in language and
linguistics. Moreover, the reception capability of the students is also a factor, as one teacher puts it:
Language education is a two-way traffic. I might be too much skilled in language, but when
I exhibit it in the classroom, 80% of my grass root level students cannot grasp that. Thus,
being good at language is enough and our literature background certainly gives us that
much subject knowledge. Only specialised training on a regular basis might fill in the gap.
However, five respondents feel that ELT background or at least one course in ELT should be
required for becoming ELT teacher. According to them, for teaching ELT at honours level,
language-based educational background is required, since at that level, students need to learn
the language in depth. Referring to the problem of wrong pronunciation of English words, one
teacher with ELT background argues that a teacher with ELT background would better know
how to teach language-specific features than the ones from literature background.
Among institutional supports, subject-based training facilities emerge as the first priority with
majority (10) respondents mentioning it. According to majority of the respondents, the authority
most often finishes its duty by arranging trainings, but never monitors if the trained teachers are
320
placed in the right place so that they can implement their newly gained knowledge. Another vital
point raised by the teachers is the discrimination often exercised by the authority in the selection
of candidates for training. As one teacher says, while some privileged teachers get selected for
training again and again, most of the teachers are not even informed of the training facilities.This
view is echoed by all 19 respondents.
The factors so far identified as having effective influence on identity construction suggest that
identity construction is mainly a combination of the individual image and the social and institu-
tional image of the person. As identity determines behaviour, it is only a logical expectation that
professional identity will have an influence on professional performance.
Professional identity influencing professional performance

The present study further confirms the popular assumption that ‘identity and performance are
interconnected’ (Roshid, Haidar, & Mian, 2017, p. 164).Two points emerge as strong determinant
towards their professional identity development: their sense of identity and positive workplace
environment which includes proper training facilities, needs-based training modules, implemen-
tation opportunities, and equity-based selection process for training.
Around two-thirds of the respondents (17) mentioned that the confusion regarding their
identity and the related dissatisfaction adversely affects their professional performance. As one
respondent says,
Of course it (identity crisis) affects mind any time. Not only in the classroom, almost
everywhere, when I see that I am not getting anything, it does affect my mind, and can
an unhappy mind bear anything positive?
Another respondent says,
If the teacher is supposed to develop only professionally, disregarding his personal iden-
tity, he will lose focus from his study and will remain busy in creating a balance between
his personal life and professional life, and this struggle for balance will certainly affect
his performance.
In addition, teachers also appear to feel a lack of confidence regarding their identity as English
teachers, as evidenced in the following comment:
I chose this profession out of my love for literature, but now as I am teaching in an
intermediate college, I do not get any chance to teach literature, and I am also not
trained in language teaching. So I feel that I am a victim of circumstances—in terms of
satisfaction, there is a huge gap.
Only two teachers out of 19 mentioned that they are confident enough in their professional
role of a language teacher because they think that their literature background forced them to
develop a high level of English, more than enough for ELT. However, perhaps the most revealing
comment in this regard came from a participant and was echoed by three more respondents,
when he said,
Teaching language does not mean teaching only communication…it means teaching
it in its totality, including its accent, pronunciation, syntax, semantics, everything. Most
321
of our teachers do not care at all about the right pronunciation. It is not their fault; as
they come from literature background, and in their syllabus they have little focus on the
properties of a language…so when they are asked to teach ELT, they focus mainly on
syntax, disregarding all other items, particularly pronunciation.
One almost univocally emphasised point is that for teaching English language successfully
teachers must be trained up in ELT methods for at least one year and that training must be given
at the very beginning of their career, and also these trainings should be repeated regularly and
should be free from nepotism.
All these responses show that identity and performance are closely intertwined and a strong
sense of professional identity improves their professional performance by increasing their profes-
sional confidence.
This study further tries to explore the role and necessity of professional training in the
construction of professional identity. All 19 respondents acknowledged that they were not job
ready when they commenced the career; and that they only gradually developed expertise
through performing the role in the class. Out of 19, four teachers complained that they did
not receive any training other than the foundation training provided by the NAEM. About
13 respondents received some more training along with foundation training, but interestingly
none of those training were meant for teaching expertise development. About four of them
received foreign trainings, but not on language teaching. They further complained of discrim-
ination and nepotism in the selection of candidates for foreign training. One more serious issue
pointed out by them is the total absence of monitoring regarding the implementation phase
of the training. All 19 teachers univocally complained that after a training programme is over,
authority never conducts any research to know about its implementation and effectiveness.
One senior teacher is disappointed that while designing the training programmes, teachers’
voices are never heard, and as a result the training almost always fails to meet the goal.
They acknowledge that considering the huge population and the equally huge resource
constraints of a developing country like Bangladesh, it is not possible to ensure pre-service teacher
education as a prerequisite for teacher recruitment. However, in-service training can easily bridge
the gap and be more effective if provided at the very beginning and if the training modules are
wisely devised in accordance with subject-specific requirements. “The earlier one gets training,
the longer he can give the result of it”. They strongly advocate that the authority must consult
the teachers before devising a training module to identify the actual problems that need address.
As regards the necessity of foreign training, there is an interestingly differentiated response.
While all the respondents agree that foreign training can help English teachers’ identity develop-
ment by providing exposure to the target language and culture, and also to the newer methods
of language teaching, some teachers are quite sarcastic in their responses. As one teacher says, for-
eign trainings do bring some qualitative change in the personality of the recipients and increases
their acceptability in the society, but “…an implementation-friendly environment is not much
available in our country, even if he comes with a world of knowledge, he cannot implement it”.
Moreover, due to the wide gap between environments, what teachers learn from foreign
trainings does not contribute much to their professional development, often creating frustration
too. However, they feel that it is the failure of the education management authority as they fail to
create implementation-friendly environment. They suggest that ministry should develop a data-
base for the foreign-trained teachers and utilise their knowledge by employing them as master
trainers and also by organising frequent workshops so that knowledge dissemination is made easier.
From these varying responses it appears that if training programmes, whether local or inter-
national, are not wisely chosen, keeping in mind the actual shortcomings of EL teachers, and also
322
if strong monitoring system is not developed, then it would be just wastage of time and money
and also a misappropriation of talent and energy.
Discussion
This study explores how English language teachers working at the government colleges of
Bangladesh negotiate their professional identities and what factors they deem as imperatives as
well as impediments to their development as effective English language teachers. The findings
indicate that constant dissatisfaction with regard to social dignity and lack of adequate professional
environment make the construction of their professional identity problematic and complex. It is
further observed that the incongruity between their academic backgrounds and their workplace
requirements is adversely affecting their performance.The process of identity construction in this
case is related with social and institutional responses to the group identity of these respondents.
This relation is multi-dimensional as well, thus conforming to the claim of identity researchers
that identity is socially constructed and it is relational as well as multi-dimensional in nature
(Borg, 2017; Richards, 2017).
The constant two-fold identity crisis suffered by these teachers explicitly refers to the socio-
cultural reading of identity construction. Firstly, the identity crisis resulting from their sense of
deprivation in terms of social dignity and material facilities as government officials possessing equal
calibre with officials from other cadres forces them to somewhat regret their teacher identity and
also to prefer their government officer identity. Their sense of deprivation directly and explicitly
refers to the ‘social identity threat’ mentioned by Tajfel (1978); these teachers also have developed
an ‘us vs. them’ mentality and a competing identity in relation to other government professionals.
The social identity threat in this case results from the teachers’ dual identity, and it aggregates
when they feel that their group identity is being devalued in the society.Their preference for dual
identity is also supported by literature as social and role identities can be multiple, hybrid, and
ongoing (Phan, 2008); ongoing in the sense that constant communication with stakeholders keeps
on shaping and reshaping the social and role-specific behaviour of the identity-holder.
Secondly, as most of these teachers come from English literature background, a large majority
of them do not feel comfortable in their language teacher identity; rather they emphasise their
role as teachers of English literature. In this case, the responses match with Wenger’s Communities
of Practice theory, according to which the practitioners in a particular domain develop a better
understanding of their weaknesses as well as strengths through the practice of sharing of ideas and
experiences.These teachers are aware of their shortcomings; and the suggestions provided by them
also focus on developing a community of practice under the active supervision of their employing
authority.When they suggest that subject-specific in-service training should be arranged at regular
intervals and foreign-trained teachers can be recruited as master trainers, they actually refer to the
practice of sharing knowledge and developing a practitioner community. Their focus on speci-
fying training modules in accordance with classroom requirements and implementation facilities
available in the country and also their emphasis on encouraging higher studies (e.g. Ph.D. for
promotion) through incentives refer to the idea that identity construction is actually a long-term
process and involves social participation in the form of organisational involvement (Reeve, 2017).
All these dualities and complexities in the negotiation of identity point to the multi-
dimensionality of social role identity of humans. Social comparison instigates a sense of situational
relevance in the individual and examines the sense of belongingness the individuals develop to
the social role they are performing (Burke & Stets, 2009). Their expectations to their social roles
are also justifiable, as according to social structuralism, people’s location in the social structure
shapes their ideas of themselves as well as their behaviour. Roles provide structure, organisation,
323
and meaning to selves and to situations and are derived partly from culture and partly from indi-
viduals’ distinctive interpretation of the roles (Burke & Stets, 2009), and professional identity is
in reality a social interpretation of individuals’ roles in society. The contextual factors identified
as influencing the construction of professional identity in this case connect to the idea that an
individual’s behaviours and expectations are their responses to situation-specific meanings and
expectations (Linh, 2013).
The complexity regarding the government college English teachers’ identity as language
teachers is further related to their dissatisfaction with the failure of institutions in providing them
with adequate opportunities in order to facilitate their process of ‘becoming’ by overcoming the
lacking that some of the teachers feel that they have in their ‘being’ as a teacher.The findings fur-
ther confirm that teacher identity development process requires long-term investment in terms
of both time and resources, as teachers develop expertise through years of continuous efforts,
both individual as well as institutional.These findings endorse Britzman’s (2003) observation that
learning to teach is “the process of becoming: a time of formation and transformation, of scrutiny
into what one is doing, and who one can become” (p. 31), and Reeves’ (2017) observation that
identity construction and development is a lifelong process. This study confirms the interpret-
ation that teacher identity is in constant negotiation with the contextual environment as well as
the counter identities within and among which the individual teacher tries to find the meanings
and interpretations of his role and behaviour (Hong, 2010).
As regards the relation between professional identity and professional performance, the overall
dissatisfaction that has been reported by the respondents also endorse the observation that when
individuals’ social identity does not harmonise with their personal interpretations of their pro-
fessional roles and expectations, teachers’ self-esteem is affected, and that instigate the individual
to behave inconsistently with the situation-specific meanings and expectations (Burke & Stets,
2009). This study further shows that the non-nativity of both the teachers and the students is
also an affective factor in the professional identity development of EFL teachers. Teachers need
to resort to frequent code switching owing to students’ weakness of comprehension of the lan-
guage. This relates to the idea that identity formation is a cultural factor as well, and language
plays an important role in this process (Aneja, 2016). According to Simon’s identity theory of
image-text, teacher identity is developed through and within language. In this study it is found
that the teachers feel a sense of dissatisfaction and also a sense of being neglected in their mutual
correspondence with both the employing authority and the society in general. Their dissatisfac-
tion with their exclusion from the Warrant of Precedence relates to the theory of image-text,
because in this case the teachers interpret their position in the social structure through the lens
of the language of their counterparts and their stakeholders, namely the government hierarchy
and the society in general.
Conclusion
Teacher identity development is a relatively under-researched area in Bangladesh. The present
study sheds light on the complexities underlying the construction of professional identity of gov-
ernment college English language teachers in Bangladesh with a view to exploring the factors
that influence both the ‘being’ and the ‘becoming’ of these teachers.The findings lead to the con-
clusion that in the construction of English language teacher identity in the government college
sector in Bangladesh, among the various factors identified, teachers mostly blame the profes-
sional dissatisfaction resulting from their identity confusion. They further blame the absence of
coordination between the stakeholders and the planners, namely the teachers and the educa-
tion management authority, in devising and implementing appropriate training facilities for the
324
dissemination of upgraded knowledge and skills available in the global ELT field.The suggestions
for the improvement of this situation are also in alignment with their conceptualisation of and
their expectations from their social identities. It is suggested that English language teachers’
performance might be improved by reducing their grievances regarding their social status and
also by ensuring proper workplace environment. Among the workplace facilities, wisely devised
training modules and fair trainee selection process emerge as a priority. The study further shows
that despite acute resource-constraints, teacher professional development can be ensured by
employing trained teachers as master-trainers and also by striking a balance between implemen-
tation settings and training modules and strategies.
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21
AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY OF
A ‘MUSAFIR’ LIFE EXPLORING
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
EDUCATION
M. Obaidul Hamid
Introduction
This chapter provides an autoethnographical perspective on English and English language
teaching (ELT) in Bangladesh. As a genre, the chapter belongs to ‘mesearch’ (Edward, 2018),
which is a type of research in which researchers reflect on their own life and experiences to
explore academic queries; this is more formally known as autoethnography (Choi, 2017; Ellis,
Adams, & Bochner, 2011; Sparkes, 2018; Stanley & Vass, 2018). My intention in this epistemic
utilisation of self (Roth, 2005) is not to valorise my biographical or authorial self; nor do I seek to
make a special case for this particular approach among all legitimate ways of knowing. However,
the self-focus makes it possible to examine English and ELT from my multiple subjectivities in
different time-space configurations and generate some unique insights. I call my story a Musafir’s
tale, using the Arabic word for a traveller.The metaphor serves as a key conceptual tool to explore
my relationship with English as I have travelled across times and places. My story adds to other
stories of English, identity, and mobility reported in the literature (e.g. Ahn, 2018; Choi, 2010,
2017; Lin, 2010). Although I am at the centre of the story as its principal character as well as
narrator, it is not just about me or my subjectivity; it is equally about my other, representing the
reader, ELT, and the ELT community.
I have been associated with Bangladesh ELT in different capacities – as a learning actor,
studying in the education system; as a pedagogical actor, contributing to the teaching of English
and to the studies of language and language education; and as an epistemic actor, trying to under-
stand and develop insights into various topics in the field. I have experienced the field as an
insider as well as an outsider – learning, teaching, and researching ELT from within Bangladesh,
and studying and researching the same from outside the country.The specific construction of my
being in the world is an outcome of my acquaintance with and investment in English. If English
has served as a catalyst in my mobility, it has also contributed to driving me out of home and
rendered me a Musafir. There seems to be no way of returning, as the home that I had known
is home no more.
Autoethnography provides the theoretical and methodological lens for my discursive/
narrative labour in the chapter. This form of research (as well as autobiography) is increasingly
being utilised in the postmodern era, which has led to questioning traditional assumptions about
objectivity, certainty, reality, and observer-observed independence in the process of knowing.
327
M. Obaidul Hamid
However, the potential of autoethnography has yet to be fully explored in Applied Linguistics
or language teaching research (see Ahn, 2018; Canagarajah, 2012; Choi 2017 for some notable
examples). A growing body of work has discussed conceptual, methodological, and pedagogical
aspects of autoethnography (Choi, 2017; Ellis et al., 2011; Ngunjiri, Hernandez, & Chang, 2010;
Roth, 2005; see Sparkes, 2018 for an overview of the genre’s coming of age). For Ngunjiri et
al. (2010, n.p.), “Autoethnography is a qualitative research method that utilizes data about self
and its context to gain an understanding of the connectivity between self and others within the
same context”. These authors identify three characteristics that designate autoethnography as
(a) a form of qualitative research; (b) self-focused; and (c) context-conscious. They also argue
that autoethnography seeks to “connect self with others, self with the social and self with the
context” (n.p.). It thus provides a socio-cultural understanding of self in its socio-cultural con-
text. This understanding of self entails an understanding of the other, thus the focus being on
inter-subjectivity, rather than subjectivity (Roth, 2005). As the dominant view of culture and its
context are interrogated in autoethnography in a fluid world (Stanley & Vass, 2018), the other is
located in spaces both within and beyond national boundaries.
Autoethnography is not free from the potential for self-indulgence, prejudice, and ideology. It
is often criticised as an unscientific form of academic narcissism. The rise of neoliberal account-
ability on the one hand and methodological fundamentalism on the other that demands evidence-
based scientific research may render qualitative research, including autoethnography ‘suspect,
unscientific, and of little value’ (Sparkes, 2018, p. 496). There are also perplexing ethical issues in
autoethnography, particularly about the representation of self and other (see Sparkes, 2018, for
a detailed discussion). Despite an awareness of these ineluctable criticisms, I have ventured into
this epistemological terrain because this is, in my view, the best way of telling my story and the
story of ELT at the same time. In the face of the ethical challenges posed by autoethnography,
it has been suggested that the ‘call to self-narration is the ethics of autoethnography’ (Tullis,
2013, cited in Sparkes, 2018, p. 496). Self-reflexivity as a critical requirement demands radical
questioning and suspension of judgement and beliefs (Roth, 2005). Self-reflexivity has guided
me in exposing my ‘vulnerable self ’ (Sparkes, 2018) as well as those of others that I weave into
my story.
My story as a Musafir
When I was born in a remote village in northern Bangladesh in the early 1970s, there was no
sign of English in our home or in the rural community. I did not have access to standard Bangla
either. The local linguistic ecology was comprised almost exclusively of a dialect spoken by my
parents, neighbours, and villagers. My father had completed nine years of madrasa education.
The only sign of literacy or language of an external world that existed in our home was the holy
Quran and a few termite-infected deeds of our shrinking land property.
I have a vivid memory of our economic circumstances when I was around five years old.
During the fasting month, my parents would wake up for the early morning meal and would
fight a recurrent dilemma: Whether they would consume the food themselves so they could fast
the whole day, or they would invite their three sons (I had an older and a younger brother at
that time) to the meal. They knew that all three were awake, waiting at a verbal distance for an
invitation to share the food with them.
I foreground this material question for several reasons. Following Block (2014, 2018), I want to
underscore class apathy in Applied Linguistics. Countering the illusion of ‘linguistic communism’
(Bourdieu, 1977), I would like to note that inequality in language needs embedding in social
and material inequality. Bernstein (1971) and Bourdieu (1991) have theorised how schooling,
328
An autoethnography of a ‘musafir’ life
including language learning, is mediated by class and capital. Lin’s (2010) autobiography provides
an illustration of the connections of class, English, and mobility in Hong Kong. More poignantly,
I would like to point to the material basis of social desires (Deleuz & Guattari, 1972; Jahan &
Hamid, 2019).
Unable to provide even two daily meals for their children, my parents sent me to a local
rehabilitation centre about six kilometres from our village.This orphanage-like non-government
entity was called terre des hommes (TDH, or home for children) which was funded by a Swiss phil-
anthropist. It was opened in the famine-affected region for children like us who were likely to
be nipped in the bud, as the local name of the organisation (chhinna mukul) suggested. It provided
free meals, accommodation, clothes, and basic education for several hundred children. So, I was
relieved from starvation for food, but I was deprived of whatever warmth or coolness my des-
titute parents could offer. In TDH, I was introduced to literacy, English, and an unimaginable
world that belonged to people who were not like us. Here I conceived of the desire of denying
my social origins and becoming a nice-clothes-wearing man with access to those resources that
did not belong to us by birth. Much later, I discovered that Dickens’s Pip in his Great Expectations
had a similar desire – to turn his back on his rustic origins to become a gentleman. I lived in
TDH for almost 10 years and received customised education, which was comparable to eight
years of formal schooling in Bangladesh.
I do not remember my first English lesson in the TDH school, but I experienced the language
(often as a passive listener) quite frequently. The official paperwork in TDH was conducted in
English. Our attendance register at school had our names written in English.The TDH Country
Director was a foreigner who would speak English with officials, teachers and, occasionally,
with us. When he visited a particular department – the school, the clinic, or the kitchen – he
was accompanied by Bangladeshi officials. They would speak English. Sometimes we would
have foreigners from European countries visiting us. They would come to our class, our dor-
mitory, or the playground, and they would interact with us in English. We felt invited to enter
into the world of English, but we found its foreignness inhibiting. One evening, a group of
boys including myself were going to attend a religious talk in a public place outside TDH. The
Country Director was surprised to see us outside TDH premises and enquired about our destin-
ation. I tried to explain to him our intention with the help of my infantile lexical repertoire. I
was led to perform such interpreting jobs on other occasions, but it gave me the mixed feelings
of attraction, inhibition, and a sense of unfulfilment.The linguistic space created by these modest
communicative events did not represent the world of English. It was a makeshift ‘third space’
(Bhaba, 1994) beyond the border of our known linguistic geography. As cultural encounters,
these events were consequential, as they gave me an orientation to self and other on the one hand
and desire and deficiency on the other. This early linguistic immersion may explain why I chose
to study English at the university, which provided a key direction in my life.
The TDH school did not have an official curriculum. Our curriculum was what our teachers
taught. Our daily instruction time was short, starting at 8:30 am and finishing at 11 am (morning
shift) or from 2 pm to 4:30 pm (afternoon shift). Instead of teaching all areas of knowledge, we
were taught basic literacy, numeracy, and social sciences. The specialist areas of science, grammar,
and geometry were not part of the curriculum. In fact, I first heard the word ‘grammar’ (English)
or baekoron (Bangla) in Year 9 outside TDH. All children received vocational training in the
morning or in the afternoon. The offerings included bakery, carpentry, tailoring, weaving, and
electrical wiring. The aim was to give children vocational skills so when they left TDH, they
would enter into the world of work, earn an income, and provide for themselves and their fam-
ilies. I was trained in bakery for a few years and later I was taught electrical wiring. During my
senior secondary years (9 and 10), I worked as a casual electrician in the rural town.
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I finished Year 8, the last year of TDH school, with an unqualified faith in the instrumental
potential of education. My social origins would have rendered me invisible in the literate world.
My backdoor entry into this world facilitated by institutional mediation (TDH) removed this
invisibility by giving me another invisibility. If Calva (2018) as a child found herself ‘invisible’
in Mexico City because she spent most of her time with her siblings and cousins in their self-
contained ancestral mansion, I lived in confinement without access to the world outside TDH.
I did not have clear ideas about schooling in this outside world. However, I knew that students
studied English as one of their subjects. This was my comfort zone. In rural Bangladeshi schools,
where learning English terrified most students, English was my favourite subject, although I was
operating in the language at a very basic level. I left TDH with an aim to pursue education,
against the wise advice of TDH officials.They thought that education was an unforgivable luxury
for someone from my station in life. Leaving TDH meant leaving the certainty of three daily
meals and entering into an uncertain world. However, I trusted a couple of my school teachers
who told me that the world outside TDH would have the space to accommodate me. If the
confined space of TDH met the basic needs of my life, it did not allow me to develop ideas about
the social construction of space (Lefebvre, 1991).
I did not return home which I had left about 10 years previously. My socialisation in TDH
made me view my home in a different light. This had been my only place to be – I remember
during the early days of TDH life, if I went home on leave, I did not want to go back. Occasionally,
my mother would beat me mercilessly out of mercy, when her limited verbal resources failed
to persuade me. She would then walk with me a mile or so and we would then depart. I would
reluctantly walk towards TDH and she would accelerate her stone-heavy feet to hurry home.
I don’t remember how many tears she would shed on her way back and what sense of parental
guilt would shake her fragile body. As education became the goal of my life, my home lost its
attraction for me. It was far away from the secondary school that I wanted to attend. Deep down,
I knew I would end up in a career looking after other people’s cattle and farms, if I returned
home.
I was sheltered by a rich family about one mile away from the school. I became a residential
tutor. My host family provided me free accommodation and food. I taught two children for
about an hour in the morning and in the evening every day. I never suspected that this was the
beginning of a teaching career.
I commenced Year 9 in the new school with little knowledge of how school works, what
teachers teach, and how they teach. Very shortly, I had to decide whether I wanted to follow
the arts or science stream. Without knowing much, I opted for science because it sounded more
glamorous, but later I switched to arts when I discovered that I would need to seek paid help
from teachers (tutoring) for physics, chemistry, biology, and maths about which my knowledge
was close to zero.
However, I was good in English, as per the rural standards. People around me confirmed that
I was. Nevertheless, English lessons became a source of frustration which, rather than nurturing
my interest in English, uncovered my ignorance. I was able to say and write simple statements in
English, but this did not count because I did not know how to change active voice into passive, or
how to transform direct speech into one that was indirect. I survived the pedagogy of grammar,
but my desire to use English to communicate received a severe blow. Very soon, I imbibed the
message that all that counted was doing well in examinations. I never recovered from this blow
to my interest in English as I climbed the education ladder.
Notably, the local community was appreciative of the social power of English, although in
an abstract sense, and I was a beneficiary of the community linguistic ideology. I was quickly
accepted by my classmates. They knew my social background, but they appreciated that I was
330
good in English.This social attitude is not apolitical as it gives discriminating privilege to English
and those who can speak English. My smattering of English earned me many friendships. My
classmates wanted to sit next to me during English tests. One day in Year 9, our headmaster came
to our class and gave us a Bangla sentence to translate into English. He said that whoever was able
to do so correctly would have his fee waived for the whole year. I gave it a try and produced a
literal transition. He said that I had rendered the meaning but it was ungrammatical. He gave me
a 50% waiver of my fees for the year.
I survived the two years at school and finished the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam-
ination. Not surprisingly, I did well in the two English papers and worst in mathematics and
Bangla grammar. Nevertheless, my SSC results brought an opportunity to visit Dhaka, as the
Bangladesh President at that time desired to recognise educational achievement of a few hun-
dred students from all over the country. We ended up meeting the First Lady in the absence of
the President.
The completion of secondary schooling brought me a new challenge. This was deciding
which college to attend for my Year 11–12 study. My social position did not allow me to dream
of Dhaka College. I ended up taking the test for Carmichael College in Rangpur and I quali-
fied. In fact, I was told that I ranked first. I found myself in the role of home tutor again in the
house of a friend of my father who lived in the countryside about seven kilometres away from
the College. I walked over an hour each way every day through fog, rain, sun, and dust depending
on the time of the year.
Neither English nor standard Bangla was related to the life of the agro-based rural community
where I lived. I never had an opportunity to practise English beyond the classroom. However,
it was one of the happiest periods in my life. I lived close to nature and enjoyed the beauty
of simplicity in life. The English Romantics that I studied at the university would remind me
of this rustic life. I was loved and respected by my hosts who had no formal education. They
provided me with my daily necessities within their capacity. Academically, I did not find my
studies demanding, as I had no maths or sciences to challenge me. I felt confident that I would
do well when I sat for the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examination.
I passed the HSC examination with slightly better results than my SSC, but I had not become
more proficient orally in my linguistic repertoire over the two years. However, I learned many
new vocabularies and further enhanced my writing skills. Not having the need to speak English,
I focused on expressing myself through writing. My ability to write proficiently, although not
commandingly, helped me in my life in many ways.
After high school, students seeking higher education worry about where they might find a
tertiary place. It is common for many to stay in big cities and attend fee-paying coaching schools
before taking university admission tests. However, my immediate concern was of an economic
nature. I wondered how I could find the bus/train fare even for a single trip to Dhaka or another
city where universities were located. Admission coaching was beyond the realms of possibility.
These concerns contributed to my struggle, adding to the fragility of my dream. I could not
drive away the thought that my competitors would have an advantage in the test because of their
privileged access to extra learning opportunities. So, my situation led me to fight the battle in
many fronts – economic, social, educational, and psychological. My only hope was hope. I ignor-
antly hoped that somehow things would work out for me without any knowledge how this
might be so.
I left for Dhaka to take the admission test for undergraduate admission into the University of
Dhaka. I found free accommodation in the student hostel of a technical college through some
connections. I fully understood that the admission test was going to be the toughest hurdle
for me. If I did not succeed, I would have nothing to fall back on. I worked the hardest that I
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could do so within my means. An indelible memory of these days was related to my pecuniary
circumstances. I had a small amount of money to live through the coming weeks. I found the
cheapest restaurant in the vicinity where I had my three meals every day. Many a day I felt a
strong urge to have a second serve of rice for lunch or dinner, but the paucity of my wallet always
ruled against it.
The results of the admission test came out, and to my disbelief, I was ranked first of all students
who took the test in the Faculty of Arts. This performance meant that practically I could choose
any subject from economics, law, sociology, international relations, public administration, and
English. Making educational decisions was always a challenge for me. Before I faced the inter-
view with the selection committee at the University for subject-selection, I was convinced that
I would not go for English because a first class degree in English was uncommonly achieved.
Public administration (I knew nothing about it or any other subject) appealed to me which
I thought was aligned with my desire to be a public administrator in the future. However,
although I cannot explain my rationale, I ended up choosing English going against the advice of
the selection panel.
Was this the second mistake in educational choice in my life, if the first one was studying arts
rather than science? There is a story about the first. One day after my SSC results, a friend of
mine took me with him to visit a relative of his in Rangpur. This relative was a mid-level offi-
cial in a government agricultural department. As I was introduced to him, his first question was
whether I studied arts or science. On learning that I was studying arts, he lifted his thump and
showed his frustration with a verbal ejaculation which would translate as: ‘Couldn’t you study
bullshit?’
I was thunder-struck. I didn’t have an answer as I had not thought about the arts–science
divide. I thought I was pursuing the right path (of education) to ensure my social mobility.
The SSC results gave me hope and confidence in this pursuit. But this verbal encounter nearly
smashed my dream into pieces; I asked myself if I was chasing a mirage. I also wondered if this
was a confirmation of the view of the TDH officials who had told me that education was an
unforgivable luxury for someone in my situation. Was there a way for me out of this house of
cards? Could I go back to Year 9 and study science?
I was upset but this friend had no ill intentions for me. What he said was about the import-
ance of science education for employment opportunities. I can appreciate his foresight in light of
the recent rise of the STEM education market, which has rendered arts education less valuable.
But what needs to be problematised is the essentialist thinking in defining relationships between
education, employment, income, and well-being. English is part of this essentialist discourse as
educational choice is increasingly informed by employment potential.
As I progressed through my undergraduate study in the English Department, I realised the
stupidity of doing English literature in my situation. I found English literature and its underlying
culture intimidating. In fact, the very literate world was foreign to my social origins. Therefore,
much of my education was a journey into the unfamiliar, regardless of whether the content and
the language were local or global, with little opportunity for me to relate learning to my life.
Localisation of school textbooks in Bangladesh (see Roshid, Haider, & Begum, 2018) may have
been informed by the ideology of the life-learning nexus, but this process of indigenisation may
not equally facilitate learning for all social groups.
I would narrate an incident about Shakespeare’s Hamlet in our undergraduate class to cast light
on how learning demands relevant knowledge of the world. Occasionally, our lecturer taught the
class interactively and asked us to explain certain excerpts from the text. One day she asked one
student to explain an excerpt from one of the scenes. He remained silent as he was unable to do
it. I remember I could not have done so either if I were the one called upon. The lecturer asked
332
my classmate if he knew the meanings of all the words in the excerpt. When he replied in the
affirmative, the lecturer asked: “Then, why can’t you say what the author is talking about in the
text”? Apparently, I was convinced of our lecturer’s logic and wondered why we could not share
the meaning. I acknowledged our worthlessness as students of English literature. Only much later,
I came to develop a different view – that meanings were not made by linguistic properties only.
Non-linguistic factors including the knowledge of the world that meaning-makers bring to the
process are no less critical.
I did not bring relevant social, economic and cultural capital, and habitus to my study
(Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990; Lin, 2010). In my pre-university life, I never had the means to buy
books of English fiction; I had never been to a museum or theatre. The circumstances of my life
provided little support for making sense of the world of English authors. I liked English, but this
was textbook English. I had studied through the medium of Bangla. Even our English lesson at
school was only partially in English. Soon I discovered that my knowledge of English amounted
to nothing, compared to what the lecturers expected and what some other students, at least
I thought, were able to carry with them from their personal universes. I became worried, and
whatever fascination I had for English did not provide this sense of wonder a chance to flourish.
Life in Dhaka was also a tough subject for me as I had previously lived a rustic life without
exposure to books, entertainment, or civility. Naturally, I befriended classmates who hailed from
the country, and we formed a sub-culture that we labelled ‘third world’.This ‘third space’ (Bhaba,
1994) was the dialectical outcome of our alienation from the space offered by English litera-
ture and the space of our own culture and identity that we failed to assert in the institution we
attended. We remained faithful to our third-world identity by choosing ‘third world literature
in English’ at the master’s level instead of ‘continental literature’ which we considered was more
aligned with the first or second world.
As an undergraduate student, I worked hard, but I could not fully enter into the world of the
great English authors. My language fell short. I could not engage or interact with what I read.
Memorising did not help, but I was not cognisant of more effective strategies. Academic support
was non-existent. I wondered if the institution sought to maintain ‘elite closure’ (Myers-Scotton,
1990) by not informing students what to learn or how to learn. Some lectures were brilliant in
terms of ideas and values related to the study of literature, but the lecturers did not tell us how to
learn.They assumed that we had come with the required level of language and cultural capital to
appreciate Shakespeare or Hardy; but we had not.
Despite my academic discomfort as a student of English, things were in my favour from a
social and economic point of view. On campus, students from other departments envied us, as
we studied in the ‘royal department’. The society in Dhaka was supportive of English. Therefore,
I was able to find tutoring jobs to manage my own expenses and, occasionally, to support my
parents and my youngest brother (the fourth sibling) who was led to choose a life of education
under my influence.
I finished my undergraduate studies, missing a first class degree by a small margin. Although
I did not fully understand what I missed due to this result, or what a first class result could have
brought for me, there were occasional disappointments, particularly when I discovered that many
of my friends in other departments were blessed with first class degrees. On other occasions,
I became reconciled to this disappointment by thinking to myself that I actually did not deserve
a first class outcome. I did not have the literary or linguistic acumen to appreciate English litera-
ture, although the human values that my teachers inculcated in us were important in life.
The following year, I took my MA studies somewhat less seriously. I convinced myself of the
possibility of achieving another above average result and started thinking about career options
after graduation. During this year, I spent a lot of time earning for myself, my parents, and my
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brother who was admitted into a medical college. Luckily, I obtained a first class result for my
MA, which became a decider for my career. This result taught me that we may have control over
our labour, but the outcome of the labour may not be fully in our control. Serendipitously, the
Department of English recruited four lecturers to teach a newly introduced English Foundation
course for first year students in the Arts Faculty. This was in response to the falling standards of
English across the country on one hand and to the necessity of preparing students for English-
dominated tertiary studies on the other (Hamid, 2000). Luckily, I was one of them, although I
don’t think my recruitment was due to my English proficiency. It might have been due to my
MA result and my luck.
At first, I was happy to join the University because I had the impression that it could provide
an opportunity to have a great career. But I felt uncomfortable in many ways. Comparing myself
to my teachers in the department, I thought I was not good enough for such an onerous position.
I also thought that my MA results were no reliable indicator of my mastery of English literature
or my ability to teach. I was not confident of my speaking ability. I was too shy to speak in front
of people, whether in Bangla or in English. Most critically, I found myself to be a social misfit in
an academic environment, as my limited experience in life did not teach me how the university
works, what I was expected to do, and how to conduct myself with different audiences at different
places. Each day at the university brought me the realisation that this new teacher self was not me.
I became acutely conscious of the difference between who I was and how I had to present myself
at the university. Probably I was a case of ‘imposter syndrome’. However, the thought that gave
me some consolation was that it was a temporary job, as I was preparing for the Bangladesh Civil
Service (BCS) examination. Around that time, I found scholarship opportunities in Australia and
applied for one without much thinking. I was asked to take the IELTS test, which I had not heard
about before. I obtained a modest score but this was probably good enough for the selectors. I was
offered a scholarship to study a postgraduate qualification in ELT in Australia.
However, the opportunity presented a dilemma: Whether I should go to Australia to study, or
stay in Bangladesh to take the BCS written examination. Rightly or wrongly, I decided to go to
Australia thinking that I would pursue the BCS job on my return. In Australia, I studied an MA
in TESOL, although even the acronym ‘TESOL’ was completely new to me. This was unrelated
to my previous study of English literature, but this was a sensible option given that I was respon-
sible for teaching general and academic English to first year students at the University of Dhaka.
I also opted for a minor thesis option, again without knowing much about research methodology.
The only methodology that I was familiar with was text analysis, which considerably helped
me in my academic pursuit in the Australian university. I lived with an Australian family, which
exposed me to everyday English communication. I also had regular interaction with Australian
and international students, but I did not overcome my shyness or fear of speaking in public.
I returned to the English Department at the end of my Australian study, but I still felt alienated.
This was probably alienation from the kind of labour rather than language (see Petrovic, 2019) in
an institutional setting in which I only had superficially immersed. Although I developed a liking
for teaching and research in Australia, I was still unsure if I wanted to continue in the teaching
profession. I tried my luck with the BCS examination once again but by the time I was preparing
for the lengthy written examination, I reconciled with myself that teaching would be just fine
as a career and I could live with it for the rest of my life. This lack of striving for an alternative
destiny might have stemmed from a desire for stability on the one hand and resignation to my
destiny on the other.
I was probably not sure what I wanted to do for a living. I did not imagine myself working
in the farm (like my father and elder brother), or living the life of an electrician, but I also did
not have a strong passion for any specific work. This may be because I did not know about
334
any white-collar jobs. Not a single member of my extended family ever went to school or
worked outside our village. However, I had a desire to undertake a PhD when I was in Year 11,
although I had no idea what this meant or how it could help me in my life. This PhD desire
became stronger once I decided to continue in teaching. I tried for PhD admission in North
America and the United Kingdom, without success. So, I returned to Australia for my PhD
studies, and pursuing this qualification resulted in an academic job located in an Australian uni-
versity. Significantly, it gave me a new identity as a migrant. The Australian job led me to resign
from my academic position in Bangladesh, but ironically my research engagement with ELT in
Bangladesh only increased over the years.
Reflecting on the Musafir life

Applied Linguistics work may demand linguistic data, but I haven’t presented such data in this
chapter; I have drawn upon the well of experiential memories. Questions such as what constitutes
data have been addressed by qualitative, autoethnographic researchers (see Choi, 2017 for a dis-
cussion). Autoethnographic work generally draws on photographs, diaries, letters, artefacts, and
linguistic and communicative encounters (Choi, 2017). Mobilising these data is facilitated by
certain literacy and cultural practices and tastes. There was little room for engaging in this data-
gathering in my life. In my childhood, my parents struggled to provide even what was essential
for our living such as two daily meals of rice or bread. I never had a toy in my childhood. The
first photo in my life was taken in secondary Year 9 when I was required to register for the Year
10 school-leaving examination. The second one was in Year 11, again for the same purpose. The
goal of our family was related almost exclusively to the economic base for survival; it did not have
an ancillary cultural component.
The absence of data can also be attributed to my itinerant life, voluntary or involuntary. I was
evicted out of home as a child and since then I have changed one place for another. I have trav-
elled light and lived light in all places. Even if I wanted to grow roots in my current location, the
precariousness of employment in the current global context may not allow me to do so. As an
economic Musafir, I have to be ready to travel where my labour may be wanted.
Nonetheless, my data-poor autoethnography may be of some heuristic value to the ELT
community in several ways. First, my life presents a case of learning English under difficult
circumstances, reflecting a complex operation of agency, structure, and desire. I can’t tell how
much each contributed to my learning English or how my learning would have been affected if
there had been fewer structural barriers and/or more social privileges and affordances. I raise this
point to emphasise holistic views of learning against atomistic tendencies. My English learning
journey is an example of what I have called ‘sociology of language learning’ which emphasises
learners’ social biographies (Hamid, 2009).
Second, readers might be encouraged to present my life as an example of social mobility
through English, which is part of dominant discourses (e.g. Alhamdan, Honan, & Hamid, 2017;
Vaish, 2008). While I can’t deny the beneficial effect of English in my life, I do not intend to
celebrate my ‘success’ in breaking social barriers. If my life is about making my social existence
visible from invisibility, or achieving the condition of food sufficiency from starvation, I do not
invite the reader’s congratulations on my achievement. Instead, I would like them to reflect on
other invisible existences that fail to reach the border of social transformation and visibility.
When I contemplate on how life treated my TDH mates, many of whom returned homes with
their talents and desires, my mobility seems an accident.
If English has worked as a kind of social remedy for me, it has also been part of the problem.
Its substantive contribution needs to be seen as coming at a cost. This can be understood from
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M. Obaidul Hamid
my language life and the linguistic repertoire. I have been able to learn English only to do certain
things, the most notable one being related to managing my academic life. However, while I never
aimed for the so-called ‘native-speaker’ capacity, I do not shy away from noting that doing aca-
demic tasks in English as an additional language has been challenging. I have been able to publish
(including this chapter), but occasionally there have been frustrating experiences which can be
attributed to my linguistic repertoire. On the other hand, this pursuit of semi-functional English
ability did not allow me to develop academic proficiency in Bangla. I am unable to do academic
work, be it written or spoken, in Bangla because my education did not require me to practise
academic Bangla. Some academic journals in language studies require authors to write an add-
itional abstract in a language other than English for their articles. For one journal, I requested a
Vietnamese colleague to write the abstract in Vietnamese because I was not confident in my aca-
demic Bangla. However, after doing this, I could not absolve myself of my patriotic guilt. More
recently, when another journal asked me to do the same, I tried to do it myself in Bangla. Bangla
writers may not be impressed by the quality of the text, but this was the product of many hours
of labour. The ‘truncated multilingualism’ (Blommaert, 2010) that was the product of my educa-
tion and social circumstances indicates that even academically I do not function fully in English,
while Bangla does not have an academic role in my language life. Unlike the Kenyan postcolonial
author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, I cannot go back to write in Bangla, my so-called ‘mother tongue’,
as an act of ‘linguistic correction’ (Komska, Moyd, & Gramling, 2019).
Parallel to these semi-lingual questions, my upward mobility that culminated into my identity
as an economic migrant reflects truncation of my identity. As Bangladeshi-Australian, I officially
belong to both nations concurrently. While the hybrid identification is unproblematic in theory,
its operationalisation is probably untenable. Practically, I no longer belong to Bangladesh while
my acquired belonging to Australia may never be complete. I can of course ‘shuttle between’
(Canagarajah, 2005) the two languages, nations, and identities, but the shuttling may not com-
pensate for my perceived sense of loss of language, home, and belonging.
This sense of loss adds to my disquiet, which is aggravated by the rise of neo-nationalism and
anti-migrant discourses. No one has ever said to me: ‘Go back to your own country!’ But I can’t
pretend that I haven’t heard it.The verbal terror is targeted at people like us with prominent visi-
bility. Would it have been better not to have this transnational mobility in the first place? Thoughts such as
these are immediately followed by counter thoughts: Did I really belong in Bangladesh? Where did
I belong? In Dhaka, Rangpur, TDH, my village? If my struggle in Bangladesh was seeking visibility
from ‘invisibleness’ (Calva, 2018), ironically, attaining unattainable invisibleness would be desir-
able in Australia where I can’t hide my obtrusive visibility. It boils down to the question of my
being and belonging: I probably belong nowhere. Musafir is my only existence.
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for Today textbook: What do they have to offer inside the classroom? In D. Bao (Ed.), Creative
concerns in ELT materials development: Looking beyond current practices (pp. 211–234). Bristol, England:
Roth, W.-M. (2005). Auto/biography and auto/ethnography: Finding the generalized other in the self.
In W.-M. Roth (Ed.), Auto/biography and auto/ethnography: Praxis in research method (pp. 3–16).
Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Sparkes, A. C. (2018). Autoethnography comes of age: Consequences, comforts, and concerns. In D.
Beach, C. Bagley & S. M. da Silva (Eds.), The Wiley handbook of ethnography of education (pp. 479–499).
London, England: John Wiley.
Stanley, P., & Vass, G. (Eds.). (2018). Questions of culture in autoethnography. London, England: Routledge.
Vaish, V. (2008). Biliteracy and globalisation: English language education in India. Clevedon, England:
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PART VI
Teacher education and English

for economic development
22
THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE
TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS IN
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Arifa Rahman
Introduction
Language Teachers Associations (LTAs) are a late entrant into the arena of professional
organisations (Wheeler, 2018). The term LTA applies to organisations related to the teaching
of any language; however, English language teachers’ associations appear to dominate the scene.
The reason is probably the perspective that English is currently the global lingua franca. Besides,
the expression LTA has been used assuming that the key underlying factors across all language
associations are similar.
Historically, the mid-1960s saw the establishment of two vigorous English language teacher
associations – IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language)
in the United Kingdom and TESOL International (Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages) in the United States, followed by others, with hundreds of LTAs actively operating
around the world today.
The main element in these associations is the aspect of volunteerism. Through this practice of
volunteering one’s time for the benefit of one’s own professional community, these associations
created opportunities for teachers to come together. Initially, the associations were limited to
showcasing their work, but over the last three decades, LTAs have started playing a significant role
in the professional development of language educators. Wheeler (2018) typifies the JALT (Japan
Association of Language Teaching) mission statement as simply and clearly defining the true
purpose of an LTA: “[JALT] promotes excellence in language learning, teaching, and research by
providing opportunities for those involved in language education to meet, share, and collaborate”
(Wheeler, 2018, p. 11). He further states that an LTA is expected to hold conferences and to pub-
lish at least a newsletter on a regular basis. Depending on the size and resources of the group, it
may also engage in teacher training, promote research, post job openings, and act as an advocate
for policies related to language education. The main focus of LTAs, thus, is providing platforms
and opportunities to language teachers for their continuing professional development (CPD).
It is interesting to note that in spite of their relatively long history, LTAs have rarely been the
subject of academic study or research before the turn of the century. Published materials on LTAs
started emerging in the second decade of this century. Significant among them have been the
ELT Journal Special Issue on LTAs in 2016 and a 2018 book on studies of LTAs around the world,
edited by Alsheikh, Coombe, and Effiong.
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Arifa Rahman
This chapter presents a case study of three LTAs, based in the South Asian region, namely
Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association (BELTA), Society of Pakistan English Language
Teachers (SPELT), and Nepal English Language Teachers Association (NELTA), and the diverse
ways their volunteering efforts negotiate their associations’ agenda of supporting and promoting the
professional development of teachers.These include the strategies they employ in managing the asso-
ciation, the teacher development activities they engage in, the challenges they face, the networking
initiatives and sharing of best practices they resort to, as well as the way they prioritise on matters of
future planning and action.
Research design
The conceptual framework for this study has been derived from the construct used by Mahboob
and England (2018) regarding the criteria for ascertaining the credibility of LTAs. It is based
on two aspects, compositional factors and benefits. Compositional factors include features that pro-
vide information about the overall structure, the membership demographics, and the political,
economic, and cultural aspects of the LTA. The second factor is the range and availability of
benefits the LTA extends to its members and the professional community at large.These benefits
include the range of products and services that are offered to their stakeholders. These give an
indication of the robustness of the association, whereas the frequency and availability of these
products and services give an indication of its vitality. As it was essential to consider the robust-
ness, vitality, and effectiveness of the LTAs rather than simply narrate their goals and activities,
I chose this framework for my study.
The research questions that directed my study were as follows:
• What are the compositional characteristics of the three LTAs?

• What products and services do they offer to their stakeholders?
• What is the extent of robustness and vitality of these products and services?
• What challenges do they face?
• What are their future plans?
To carry out my investigation, I used the following methods of data collection:
• Document analysis (including websites, Facebook platforms, and published literature on

the LTAs)
• In-depth questionnaire – responded by a well-established, long-serving member/leader in
each LTA
• The writer’s own perception as an active, long-time LTA leader and member of BELTA with
frequent professional and personal interactions with NELTA and SPELT. In this way, the
writer as informant was included.
• Follow-up e-mail interviews and prolonged correspondence over issues arising from the
questionnaire responses that needed to be explained or expanded.
It may be pointed out that the questionnaire could not be included as an Appendix due
to length constraints. However, Table 22.1, though restricted to compositional factors
mainly, gives an idea of the kind of questions used. The findings from the questionnaire, the
e-interviews, correspondences, and websites were collated and incorporated into the sections
that follow.
342
The role of language teacher associations
The three LTAs: SPELT, BELTA, and NELTA

The three LTAs, BELTA, SPELT, and NELTA, are based in the neighbouring countries in South Asia
within close proximity, namely Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal. Though these three regions are geo-
graphically dissimilar, there is a degree of affinity in their political, socio-economic, and cultural spheres.
SPELT, a non-political, non-profit organisation, was established in 1984 in response to the general
neglect of English language teaching (ELT) in favour of literature studies. At that period, there was
little awareness of the discipline of language teaching and applied linguistics in most regions. SPELT’s
mission is to provide a professional forum for its members and practitioners teaching English as a
foreign/second language; to facilitate effective communication and improve the teaching/learning
standards of English in Pakistan. Its initiatives for teacher development are discussed later.
BELTA was founded the same year as SPELT as a non-political, non-profit organisation
sponsored by the Asia Foundation. Its mission is to link, support, and develop ELT professionals
throughout the country, leading to improved teaching/learning and subsequent capacity building
at all levels. BELTA was an active forum for more than a decade when it provided direction to
the ELT community through its various programmes (Rahman & Shahbuddin, 2018). Then for
several years during the 1990s, BELTA became dormant. The reason is not clear, but it certainly
reflects poor management within the association. A decade later, in 2003, some ELT academics
and former BELTA members revived the association. BELTA embarked vigorously on its second
life with immediate action for recovering official documents and launching on a rigorous mem-
bership drive, setting up its website, organising free monthly ELT workshops for English teachers
and reviving its newsletter.
NELTA, established in 1992 with the support of the British Council, started with 12 members
and now has 55 chapters throughout Nepal. Its vision is to enhance the quality of English lan-
guage teaching and learning in Nepal and reach a high degree of professionalism among ELT
professionals. Its mission is to establish NELTA as a forum for enhancing the quality of English
language teaching and learning through professional networking, supporting, and collaboration.
Volunteer members with full-time jobs get involved in the activities in different capacities – as
organisers, as participants, and as facilitators of these activities (Gnawali, 2016). NELTA states the
association is well known among most academics, the teaching community, and the wider public
so its membership is taken as a token of prestige.
Compositional factors
These factors include contextual, geographical, political, economic, and cultural features; mem-
bership features and demographics; and aspects relating to the target group supported by the LTA.
Table 22.1 depicts the compositional features of the LTAs.
Organisational management: BELTA and NELTA follow a hierarchical system, while SPELT’s man-
agement is non-hierarchical with coordinators, committees, and sub-committees elected for two
years for a maximum of two terms. On finishing their term, coordinators rotate off the working
committee for at least two years. During this time, they are encouraged to serve as sub-committee
members to guide the new coordinator. This allows for continuity in leadership while providing
opportunities for new members to join the SPELT working committee on a regular basis (Shamim
& Sarwar, 2018a). SPELT’s Working Committee comprises of seven coordinators, each with their
own sub-committee of 3–5 members. The chapter working committee has a programme coord-
inator, a conference coordinator, and a finance coordinator.The advisory board meets twice a year
with the coordinators and sub-committees. SPELT undertakes an annual strategic planning and
reviewing to further optimise the utilisation of both its voluntary and employed workforce.
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Arifa Rahman
Table 22.1 Compositional features of SPELT, BELTA and NELTA
SPELT (Pakistan) BELTA (Bangladesh) NELTA (Nepal)

www.spelt.org.pk www.belta-bd.org www.nelta.org.np
https://www.facebook.com/ https://www.facebook.com/
groups/belta/ neltanpl/
Year Established 1984 Established 1984, Dormant 1992

1990s, Revived 2003
Organisational Non-hierarchical Working Central Executive Central Executive
Management Committee, comprising Committee with 7 Committee 8 leadership
7 coordinators, each posts &17 members
leadership posts and
with sub-committee 15 members (5 representing different
of 3-5 members. regions).
Membership 1000+ 3200 (approx) including 5000 including 4000 life
480 Life members. members
Membership Fee* Regular Member: Rs 1000 Regular member: Tk 500 Regular member: Rs. 300
(5% of average school annually (2.5% of average annually (1.1% of
teacher’s monthly salary) school teacher’s monthly primary school teacher’s
Life Member: Rs 5000 salary) salary & 0.86% of
3 Years Member: Rs 2700 Life Member: Tk 3000 secondary school teacher
Institutional: Rs 5000 Institutional: Tk 5000 Life member: Rs. 3,000.
Membership Higher education: 25% Primary level: 15% Not available
breakdown (%) Private sector (schools) 70% Secondary: 34 %
in terms of types Students: 5 % Higher Education: 30 %
of membership Private sector: 19 %
Graduate students: 2%
Female-male Female: 70%, Male: 30% Female: 42%, Male:58% Not available
membership
Female-male in Out of 7 Coordinators, EC has 21 members : 25-member central
leadership role 6 Female, 1 Male. Female:11, Male: 10 committee :6 female,
19 male
Special Interest Research SIG Testing & Assessment SIG None
Groups (SIGs) Systemic Functional Young Learners (YL) SIG
Linguistics (SFL) SIG
Chapters 3 (in major cities) 15 chapters around the 55 branches (a few still
country adhoc)
*Currency rates vary between the 3 countries. At the time of final writing (Sept 2020), one US Dollar was equal to
Pakistan Rs 165; Bangladesh Tk 84; Nepal Rs 117.
BELTA’s Central Executive Committee comprises of seven leadership positions and 15 members,
elected for two years for a maximum of two terms. Recently, an advisory board has been created
to include committed founding members (from the revival phase in 2003) whose leadership and
concerted efforts have promoted BELTA to its current state of credibility.The 15 chapters each have
a coordinator. BELTA undertakes strategic planning on an annual basis with regard to programmes
and its outreach activities.
NELTA’s central executive committee has eight leadership posts and 17 members (including
five representing the different regions). They are elected for two years for a maximum of two
terms. There are also seven provincial branch committees and 54 district branch executive
committees. NELTA’s large number of chapters may be proving a management challenge for the
central committee. It draws up strategic plans for action for a two-year period.
Financial management: The three LTAs approve their annual budget at the annual general
meeting (AGM). All expenses, revenue, and bank transactions are audited annually by a licensed
audit firm. The audited report is placed at the AGM.
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Reciprocity between centre and the chapters/branches: The data shows that the LTAs have a rea-
sonable relationship with their chapters. SPELT chapters have a semi-autonomous status and
conduct activities within the prescribed limits of the SPELT charter. The head office supports
chapters in conducting their conferences, through organising keynote and plenary speakers,
sponsorships, and so on. BELTA chapters are encouraged to offer teacher training and other
ELT activities. The central committee provides support, trainers, and a percentage of funding
for the chapters, while trainers are offered by the centre. Two chapter coordinators are included
in the executive committee and chapter members are supported through partial funding to attend
conferences in-country and to attend the AGM. NELTA too displays the same spirit. The centre
promotes chapters by sending trainers and resources and invites them to the centre’s activities.The
centre’s strategic planning includes all chapter representatives. Moreover, membership fee is shared
between the centre and the chapters.
Contextual factors
The contextual factors of an LTA tell us about the environment in which it operates, including
its geographical, political, economic, and cultural aspects. It may be noted that these factors are
not independent but may interact in diverse ways. In terms of our LTAs, the contextual factors
are somewhat similar, although there may be some variations as we can see in the following.
Geographical factors
LTAs are described in terms of their geographical location. Our LTAs are located in the
neighbouring regions in South Asia, with a heavy density of population. Both Nepal and
Bangladesh have the same land area, but population-wise Nepal fares better as it has 39.3 million
people while Bangladesh has 168 million. Pakistan, situated to the west, has a land area nearly six
times the size of either country, with a population of 200 million.
LTAs may have a wide or even a global orientation, or a very local one. Generally speaking,
most LTAs can be categorised as either international, regional, national, state/province, or local
(Mahboob & England, 2018). Our LTAs are not compared to the international LTAs with global
perspectives like IATEFL and TESOL International. These two large international associations
provide space to almost all ELT professionals and stakeholders to engage in a wide range of issues
through a number of channels: publications, conferences, workshops, institutes, sponsorships,
grants, newsletters, online forums, and advocacy groups.
On the other end of the spectrum are the local LTAs that often work to support a very
specific group of stakeholders. The local chapters in SPELT, BELTA, and NELTA fall into
this category. Some local chapters are quite robust entities. For example, Abbottabad SPELT
chapter as reported by Mahboob and England (2018) and BELTA chapters of Chittagong
South and Gazipur (oral report by BELTA senior member) show a sense of self-reliance in
planning workshops for teachers. NELTA’s chapters located around the mountains enthusias-
tically request the centre to arrange ELT events for furthering their professional development
(Gnawali, 2016).
Generally, the three LTAs can be placed in the national and even regional category with their
activities on diverse fronts aimed at the professional development of the ELT community in
their respective countries. In terms of being a regional entity, the LTAs have a collaborative status
in the South Asian region.This is evident from the networking exercises that all three have taken
active part in, since 2004 (reported by Gnawali, 2018; Rahman & Shahbuddin, 2018) (see also
‘Products and services’ section on networking).
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Arifa Rahman
Political factors
LTAs are affected by global, national, and local politics. For example, the politics of a country can
impact on whether people from other parts of the world will be given visas to attend a conference
hosted in that country; for example, Pakistan has this problem and to some extent Bangladesh,
too. Additionally, in these two countries, teaching material and curriculum are regulated centrally
by the government and the government allows only certain publishers/authors’ work to be used.
In addition, LTAs may have internal politics and may have conflicts with others outside the
association. This was experienced by BELTA going through a crisis of conflict in the mid-1990s
that caused the association to become dysfunctional for a period of time. SPELT speaks of uneasy
relationships between chapters and the head office (Shamim & Sarwar, 2018b). Although SPELT
chapters have a semi-autonomous status, there is no ‘central’ coordinating committee to manage
the issue of relative rights and responsibilities of centre and the chapters. There is a lack of clarity
regarding job responsibilities. Shamim and Sarwar (2018b), both founding members, regretfully
state that this matter has escalated in recent years and is currently being reviewed by a task force
set up to formulate explicit policy guidelines for new members and leadership of SPELT chapters.
NELTA has not reported any political factors impinging on the association but has pointed
to the large number of membership that affects the equitable distribution of opportunities to all
chapter members. NELTA has been fortunate in having a positive alliance with the education
ministry, the local British Council, and the American Centre.
Economic factors
Economic factors affect LTAs. LTAs with more resources are able to offer more products and
services while teachers, with appropriate pay and benefits, are able to engage in, contribute to,
and benefit from LTAs. On the other hand, a lack of funding can affect LTAs and its stakeholders
negatively. As resources for education and teacher development are, unfortunately, declining in
many parts of the world, especially in developing countries (Rueckert, 2019), LTAs are aware of
the reality presented by such constraints.Yet they need to be reasonably financially viable to offer
their products and services with frequency and in a variety of locations.
Financial viability is a relatively challenging situation as our LTAs belong to the low Human
Development Index countries (UNDP Human Development Reports, 2018). Funding is derived
basically from membership fees. However, this is quite insufficient as membership fees are kept
at a minimum, as the average income of the target community (school teachers) is quite low.
Even registration fees at international conferences are kept relatively low (compared worldwide).
Other sources of funding were also reported. SPELT receives donations from members and
friends, sponsorships for the annual conference from leading publishers, while the conference
venue is provided free by a partnered educational institution. BELTA’s funds come from mem-
bership fees, registration fees of training events, advertisements in the conference book, and
interest earned from bank fixed deposits. Its infrequent sponsors are the US Embassy and the
British Council. The venues for some conferences and other events are sometimes provided free
by partnered educational institutions.
NELTA’s funding comes from membership and conference fees. It has generous sponsors:
British Council, British Embassy, the American Embassy, and international publishers. The con-
ference venue is provided free by partnered educational institutions. SPELT and NELTA own
their own office premises. BELTA does not. It operates from EC members’ offices or homes. It is
in dire need of a permanent office space which might remain a dream considering the sky-high
cost of property today.
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Fund raising by the LTAs have limited options, say the leadership. Nevertheless, it is seen that
the LTAs have somewhat adequate funds and are able to generate cost support or sponsorship
for specific events. Of course, generating funds would go further towards providing meaningful
professional development in terms of providing scholarships and supporting the target commu-
nity, especially teachers from disadvantaged regions.
With regard to sponsorship, a word of caution is raised by Paran (2016): LTAs need to con-
sider carefully the sponsor’s interests and goals when accepting any financial offer. Even so-called
charities like the British Council have their own agendas when supporting LTA activities by pro-
moting their particular interests at these events. In raising and spending funds, LTAs themselves
need to manage finances professionally in order to adhere to transparency (perceived and real),
ethics, and fairness. If stakeholders of an LTA question its integrity (or that of its leadership), it
loses credibility and becomes an easy target of criticism, paving the path to dissolution.
Besides the effect that funding and resources have on LTAs, economic issues can impact par-
ticipation in and access to the services offered by an LTA. LTAs all over the world have developed
unique ways in which to try to provide accessible and inclusive services. SPELT’s international
travelling conference is a case in point where the underlying motto is that “If teachers can’t come
to the conference, the conference goes to the teachers!” (Sarwar, 2011, p. 69). In a large country
like Pakistan, teachers from all over the country find it extremely difficult to attend a conference
in the capital city for three days for geographic, economic, and cultural reasons. So, the confer-
ence begins in the capital city, the SPELT centre, and then travels north with the plenary and
featured speakers giving the same presentations to the three regional chapters with the additional
benefit of including local presenters at each venue. The speakers are provided home hospitality
by local SPELT committee members, cutting down on hotel expenses.
Cultural factors
Local and organisational cultures affect LTAs. In some settings, there are constraints on topics of
sensitive issues in teaching materials because of cultural practices and/or government policies.
BELTA and SPELT, operating within a Muslim culture, need to be careful about the timing of
their training sessions allowing space for prayer times and if it is a Friday, creating a long break
for the special Friday afternoon prayers.
Padwad (2016) addresses another cultural issue in LTA development in India – the element of
charity in traditional Indian culture and how it has permeated into professional practice.This trad-
itional sense of charity is prevalent in all the three countries the LTAs represent. Almost subcon-
sciously, the three LTAs practise charity – in terms of reducing spending by teachers, especially
of members from distant, disadvantaged, and minority communities. Frequently, LTAs provide
discounts and sometimes provide free training to teachers. In the same light, BELTA follows the
practice of waiving registration fees of presenters at its conferences.
Membership
Membership features of an LTA do not only mean numbers but also the membership demo-
graphics which reveal the range of the membership, for example urban–rural, state/private school
teachers, gender, and so on. Data collected on the three LTAs (see Table 22.1) show interesting
demographics. Pakistan has around 1000 members, while BELTA has 3000 and NELTA 5000.
In terms of membership fee, NELTA has the lowest rate. Although SPELT has the highest fee, it
is still relatively low compared to world-side standards. With regard to regular versus life mem-
bership, NELTA appears to be successful in their life membership category, with nearly 4000 life
347
Arifa Rahman
members. Although BELTA has discounts and special offers for life membership, it has only
reached a total of 480 to date. No information regarding life/regular membership breakdown
for SPELT was available.
As stated earlier, membership fees are reasonable and affordable for teachers in this region.
BELTA’s annual fee is 2.5%, NELTA’s 0.68%, and SPELT’s 5% of an average secondary school
teacher’s monthly salary.
In terms of membership representation from different educational levels, SPELT has 25%
from higher education, 70% from private sector schools, and 5% graduate students. BELTA has
15% primary school teachers, 34% secondary school teachers, 19% private sector institutes, 30%
higher education, and 2% graduate students. Data for NELTA was not available.
Genderwise, SPELT is predominantly female with 70% female and 30% male members. Even in
leadership roles, females dominate, with six females and one male among the seven coordinators
of the working committee. BELTA appears to have a more balanced gender spread with the gen-
eral membership comprising 42% female and 58% male members. BELTA’s central executive
committee has a fair balance (females 13, males 11).The gender-wise membership breakdown was
not available for NELTA. However, its website executive board data shows that the 25-member
central committee has 19 males and 6 females. This may be an indication that NELTA probably
has more males than female members.
The spirit of volunteerism is a crucial factor that needs to be encouraged, nurtured, and
sustained among members. SPELT provides a platform for professional development/leadership
development skills and active mentoring/coaching by senior SPELTers (Shamim & Sarwar,
2018a). Members are first encouraged to join a sub-committee, headed by a coordinator, for
on-the-job training, and to get ready to move up the hierarchy for assuming a leadership pos-
ition in future.
BELTA’s founding members have volunteered their personal time and even money, des-
pite their own professional and personal commitments. Today some are trainers and mentors
to younger members. However, to open up more opportunities for volunteering for regional
members, it is necessary to have a more focused strategy that BELTA will need to work on.
NELTA’s founding members, the pioneers, who initiated NELTA and now are seen as role
models, promoted volunteerism by initially volunteering to do a large extent of work them-
selves for developing the programmes of NELTA. This legacy continues. Now, opportunities for
exposure and other benefits are given to those who have volunteered the most, thus attracting
new members to come forward.
Benefits
As discussed in the framework for this study (see ‘Research design’ section), the LTAs are further
categorised by analysing the range and availability of benefits they provide to their members and
the professional community at large. As stated earlier, these benefits include the range of products
and services offered to their stakeholders as well as their frequency and availability that indicate
the robustness and vitality of the LTA.
Products and services

LTA products include professional materials and goods, for example books, journals/newsletters,
and informal offerings and access to new ideas and products (blogs and e-mail listservs). LTA
services are professional support and development opportunities that focus on specific education
and/or training needs of members such as conferences, guest lectures, coaches, mentors, trainers,
348
just-in-time content-based webinars, and advocacy efforts (Mahboob & England, 2018). The
LTAs in this study offer a range of products and services. The products are as follows:
Conferences: An important feature of most LTAs is arranging international and national
conferences. Paran (2016, p. 129) states, “Conferences are an important member benefit … and
an important CPD opportunity; many LTA members attend conferences specifically to refresh
their enthusiasm, find out about new trends and resources in the field and to engage in profes-
sional debate”.
Among our LTAs, SPELT can proudly claim to have the only international travelling confer-
ence organised annually and held successively (within two weeks) in four cities throughout the
country (see ‘Eonomic factors’ section).
BELTA holds an international conference biennially (every two years) in the capital city
and a national conference every alternate year, mostly in a regional venue. Although the inter-
national conference is a prestigious event with international and national speakers and a variety
of presentations and debates, the national conferences, usually with 250–300 participants, have
the advantage of reaching out to the teaching community in wider areas as they are held in
cities/towns located in the chapters.
NELTA organises an annual theme-based international conference which is attended by over
1000 participants from Nepal and other countries in the capital city, Kathmandu. It also holds
mini conferences in the regions. NELTA added a feather in its cap by successfully organising the
2019 TESOL-NELTA International Conference and Symposium in partnership with TESOL
International on 21–23 November 2019 at Kathmandu.
Publications: Like most LTAs, our three LTAs have publications.
SPELT produces a journal, SPELT Quarterly, published regularly since 1985 and distributed
free to members. Besides its regular bulletin, it introduced a Monthly e-Bulletin since July 2018
disseminating SPELT activities and other professional development opportunities.
BELTA publishes an annual BELTA Journal, also available online. There is a quarterly news-
letter, but lately it has been falling behind. BELTA has produced a Members Handbook (in
English and Bangla), with support from the British Council. Notably, it has published an ELT
anthology in partnership with TESOL Arabia, Best Practices in ELT: Voices from the Classroom
(2015), edited by C. Coombe and R. Khan.
NELTA’s publications include a newsletter, an annual journal, proceedings of the annual con-
ference, NELTA ELT Forum – online, a monthly online blog disseminating interesting articles
to teachers since 2015 and one publication on the NELTA history. In addition, the three LTAs
bring out conferences programme books, including articles on the history of the association and
their teacher development activities
Teacher-teaching development activities

The most significant service offered by LTAs is a range of teacher and teaching development
activities as well as informal offerings and access to new ideas and products. The three LTAs
contribute a fair share of these services.
SPELT provides free teacher-training sessions, professional development programmes
(short courses and workshops), and a one-year International Certificate of English Language
Teaching course, certified by Cambridge ESOL.The advantage of offering this certified course is
two-fold: first, it enhances the prestige and credibility of the association; second, the participants
on the course volunteer their services during or at the completion of their study and often go on
to hold leadership positions in SPELT. Recently, it has launched a formal leadership development
programme for its working committee members along the TESOL leadership certificate model.
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Arifa Rahman
BELTA organises regular teacher development programmes mostly at the centre. At regional
chapter openings, BELTA holds day-long workshops for around 100 local teachers. In addition,
it organises issue-specific development workshops and short courses on methodology or specific
skills. Through its links with overseas applied linguists and language academics, BELTA organises
short lectures when such guests visit the country, thus providing opportunities for local teachers
to access a wider world of expertise and research. Recently, the American Centre requested
BELTA to coordinate the distribution of English Teaching Forum quarterly journal to BELTA
members, including the chapters and BELTA complied.
NELTA organises teacher/trainer training, issue-based workshops/talks at the centre and the
branches. It has seven resource centres which provide IT and library resources to local teachers.
The centre organises a weeklong training of trainers as a pre-conference event. Participants are
trainers from the branches and others nominated by the central committee. These participants
later cascade the training at the branch level.
Involvement in state educational initiatives

SPELT has worked with the government (provincial Textbook Board of Sindh) on textbook
development from grades 1 to 10. Textbooks for grades 11 and 12 were also developed, but the
concerned authorities took so long to decide that the authors gave the manuscript to Oxford
University Press instead, who published it and are now selling it to the private schools. These
textbooks have also been adopted by the Aga Khan Examination Board, the first private exam-
ination board in Pakistan for secondary/higher secondary classes.
The education government also nominates teachers to attend the SPELT conference, but the
number varies each year according to their relationship with SPELT. During the first and second
conferences, SPELT had extensive support with up to 150 teachers nominated by the government
to attend, mainly because the Chair of the Government Teachers Association believed in SPELT’s
work and leveraged this support. However, the support has never been in terms of direct funding.
BELTA was actively connected to the education ministry and its education extension bodies
during its early years. In fact, the first president of BELTA was a heavyweight education depart-
ment official, who facilitated government approval to nominate and financially support govern-
ment school teachers from the regions to attend BELTA’s weeklong teacher training courses that
were run regularly. However, since its revival, BELTA’s links with the government has not been
strong, apart from getting the education minister to be chief guest at most of its international
conferences. In its recent strategic planning, BELTA has concentrated on efforts to get involved
in roundtable talks/discussions organised by educational think tanks and media centres.
NELTA has been involved with government bodies in the implementation of some teacher
support activities. NELTA, with invitation from the Ministry of Education, conducted classroom
English workshops for primary teachers, and trainer training for primary school teachers. It has
also run courses on English language skills development and research design for government
school teachers and the Ministry of Education employees. NELTA often organises similar teacher
support activities with government funding. It also reviews state school English textbooks.
Providing English skills development support

and teacher training to the private sector
All three LTAs have a number of teacher educators and English language experts among their lead-
ership. They are considered a credible force in providing services like developing English language
skills and classroom methodology by the private sector schools, NGOs, and corporate bodies. From
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time to time the LTAs provide tailor-made courses for private sector clients. However, as most are
involved in their own professional work, this service is not provided on a regular basis.
Policy dialogue and advocacy

The three LTAs are naturally interested in language education policy and on ELT/learning in
their respective countries. Several of their leading members have taken part in policy dialogues
by dint of their individual standing as academics and researchers, but the associations as such
have not been involved in any significant way. Also a number of members have quality research
publications on in-country English language policy, the curriculum and testing, on materials
design, teacher–student attitudes, classroom methodology, and on the contentious issue of the
medium of instruction.
As for advocacy, the three LTAs are firmly based on the framework of effective learning,
teaching, and the dissemination of good practices in ELT, so advocacy is reflected in their mission,
objectives, and activities. Even so, they sometimes organise overt advocacy events. For example,
BELTA has organised three such discussions and programmes on critical issues of testing
and assessment literacy, on demystifying the myths shrouding CLT and focusing on the true
principles and practices of communicative teaching-learning, and on the need to amend the
national English language education policy.
Networking initiatives
All the three LTAs have close links with one another, with reciprocal benefits for member
representatives attending one another’s conferences.They also have signed MOUs with a number
of active LTAs around South and East Asia. SPELT and BELTA have close collaborative links
with TESOL Arabia.
At the global level, the three LTAs are IATEFL Associates and TESOL Affiliates. All three enjoy a
discounted membership of IATEFL under the Wider Membership Scheme (WMS).They have to
go through a rigorous bidding process every two years to win this facility for its members. SPELT
has 50, NELTA 75, and BELTA 125 WMS members who receive hard copies of the bimonthly
IATEFL magazine Voices, also published online, the monthly e-Bulletin, and the opportunity to
participate in webinars.
BELTA’s success story is its international network with Teachers-Helping-Teachers (THT), a
JALT SIG (http://tht-japan.org/), which has organised a seminar–workshop series since 2005.
This event is held annually in Bangladesh in the capital city and then travels to a regional venue.
In September 2019, the 13th event was organised. A group of international volunteer teacher
educators based in Japan come to Bangladesh to provide 2–4 days of ELT training to local
English teachers. This networking initiative has benefited more than 3000 English teachers to
date. Khan (2011, p. 180) states: “In involving international experts in teacher training, BELTA
has had the foresight to combine outsider expertise with insider perspectives in order to make
the methodologies suitable for the Bangladeshi educational and social context”.
In terms of a collective South Asian networking exercise aimed at the strengthening of LTAs
and exchange of best practices, the three LTAs have participated in a series of projects initiated
by the British Council and intermittently by the American Centre since 2004, organised at
different times in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh (for a detailed report, see Rahman
& Shahbuddin, 2018).
An interesting outcome of one such project in 2011 was setting up a mechanism of ‘peer
support review’. It involved an LTA initially carrying out a self-assessment of its own operations
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Arifa Rahman
on aspects like leadership, management, membership, newsletter, marketing, communication, and

training. Then it was reviewed on the same aspects by members of two other regional LTAs
attending the former’s international conference. This exercise, although worthwhile, had to be
shelved after two years due to lack of funding and support.
Services through external support

SPELT undertook teacher development projects with support from the Hornby Trust. It
partnered with TESOL Arabia on ELT events. It had the privilege of recommending candidates
for the Hornby schools in Pakistan and abroad, but not anymore. SPELT leadership considers this
a setback in terms of ‘credibility’ and ‘status’ within the country.
BELTA, in partnership with TESOL Arabia has organised three 11-hour courses for BELTA
members on ‘Teacher Effectiveness’, ‘Leadership in English Language Teaching and Learning
Development’, and ‘Understanding Assessment’. The TESOL Arabia team volunteered their ser-
vices as facilitators with BELTA providing the logistics. BELTA nominates members for teacher
training for occasional ELT programmes organised by the British Council in-country with over-
seas facilitators, or programmes sponsored by the American Centre and TESOL International,
in-country or at regional venues like India, Sri Lanka, or Nepal. However, these opportunities are
few and far between. Nevertheless, BELTA’s partnered workshop series with THT, mentioned
above, is a robust on-going enterprise.
NELTA is supported by the British Council and the American Center which awards long-
term scholarships for its members under the Hornby Trust and short-term courses in the United
Kingdom, the United States, and around the South Asian region. Under the scheme, members also
attend Hornby School courses. NELTA grants E-teacher scholarship awards to teachers. Teachers
present papers or participate in conferences at IATEFL,TESOL, SPELT, BELTA, ELTAI, and JALT.
This section has provided a profile of the three LTAs based on the data collected for this study.
It has analysed their compositional factors and the contexts they operate in, their membership
demographics, and the type of products and services they offer. It reflects how the LTAs show a
degree of robustness in the range of products and services they offer. However, in order to get an
idea of the vitality of their activities, we need to examine the frequency of services and resources
that the LTAs make available to their stakeholders. This is discussed in the next section.
Robustness and frequency of activities

The matter of frequency and vitality may be assessed by referring to some of the success stories
of the LTAs. SPELT and NELTA organise a regular annual theme-based international conference,
SPELT for 34 years now and NELTA for 23 years. As BELTA’s international conference is bien-
nial, it has held eight international conferences and seven national conferences since its revival in
2004. The conferences for all three are successful enterprises and have contributed meaningfully
to the CPD of English language educators in their respective countries. This assessment is based
on feedback forms by conference participants and discussions in online social media sites as well
as in published works.
Despite the success of conferences, the frequency and continuity of other products and ser-
vices may be an issue. For example, some BELTA chapters are inactive and there are no strategic
plans as yet to re-activate them. The infrequent publication of the newsletter is another matter
with editorial complaints of the lack of timely contributions from members. NELTA feels there
are far too many members and far fewer opportunities for them. Data on SPELT was absent
regarding this issue
352
Realities and potential

The realities surrounding the three LTAs have been discussed at length and some challenges
have been identified. All three share concerns that motivating volunteers and maintaining and
sustaining an active interest in teacher development are a constant anxiety. Other problematic
matters are encouraging teachers to understand the significance of CPD in their professional
lives mentoring future leaders, improving the relationship between chapters and the central
committee, and exploring avenues for generating funds. NELTA talks about issues of pre-
paring professional ELT trainers and managers, improving the English language proficiency of
school teachers, equipping the NELTA resource centres with IT equipment, and diversifying
its library resources.
The future plans of the LTAs often converge. SPELT wants to review its organisational
structure, charter, and activities in the light of the changed ELT environment in Pakistan and
developments/changes in ELT methodology internationally (personal communication with
SPELT leaders). BELTA wants to re-energise its chapters and become involved in advocacy
issues in language education. Finally, all the LTAs want to explore ways of engaging more with
the government to get involved in state policies, ELT developments, and teacher education issues.
Among the three, only NELTA is confident enough to envisage collaborating with the govern-
ment in ELT affairs in the future.
Despite their limitations, the LTAs have the potential to be dynamic entities. An example is
given from a recent LTA meeting held in Karachi during the SPELT annual international con-
ference in October 2017. Without any sponsors or funders, SPELT initiated a day-long LTA
meeting as a pre-conference event where all plenary and featured speakers from the conference
were invited. They represented LTAs, namely BELTA, NELTA, TESOL Arabia, TESOL Sudan,
TESOL Greece, and of course SPELT, the host. Describing the LTA members sharing success
stories and challenges, and then working in groups to plan collaborative activities, Gnawali (2018,
p. 163) states that it “brings to light the fact that LTAs are increasingly coming together and cre-
ating synergy to undertake actions that benefit them”. This meeting was an embodiment of the
JALT mission statement this chapter started with – to meet, share, and collaborate.
The way forward

Focusing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 – Ensure inclusive and quality
education for all and promote lifelong learning, the resources needed to provide quality education and
life-long learning need to be seriously explored. Despite the technological revolution that has
opened up vast opportunities for self-directed learning, the teacher still remains at the heart of
the learning process in most parts of the world today, especially where English is present in the
curriculum as an additional language to be learned and to be assessed through formal modes of
testing (Hamid, Sussex, & Khan, 2009).
There is thus a strong demand for qualified professionals to staff classrooms well into the future.
The UN International Task Force on teachers on education (UNESCO, 2018) has estimated that
69 million teachers will be needed by 2030. Therefore, state initiatives for innovative forms of
teacher education, which is usually slow to take off, needs to be supplemented by NGOs and
other relevant autonomous bodies. This is where the role of LTAs gains significance. The three
LTAs, SPELT, BELTA, and NELTA, operate in countries where the status of education and
teacher education is not encouraging (Rahman, 2015). Hence, the LTAs are in a convincing
position to offer an additional teacher development resource to the state. Moreover, LTAs have
trainers among the leadership who are highly qualified ELT professionals with academic and
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Arifa Rahman
research credentials and who believe in creating space for CPD, not only for themselves but for
the community they serve.
It is essential to understand the impact of global development and massive changes on
society, which has in turn impacted on teaching and the teacher as well. Gone are the days
when a teacher would be using traditional ways of teaching to large groups of passive learners.
The role of the future teacher is set to be multifaceted. A panel discussion on future directions
in ELT at the 2019 IATEFL Annual International Conference focused on the changing role
of the English teacher (IATEFL, 2019). The speakers indicated that the teacher of the future
would typically be a non-native and would be multi-tasking, multi-skilled, exploiting tech-
nology, and dependent on technology, with more volunteerism and an initiative in profes-
sional development. In short, the future teacher will be ‘qualified, empowered and motivated’
(UNESCO, 2018).
Conclusion
The study has focused on the realities of three LTAs in the South Asian region. It has recognised
the differences in their contexts and their compositions and has reviewed their products and ser-
vices and their impact in terms of robustness and vitality. It has also highlighted ways in which
these associations have addressed a range of challenges.Thus, the chapter has provided a compre-
hensive insight into the current status and the potential of these LTAs.
In conclusion, we need to re-think the role of the LTAs of the future when a staggering
number of qualified teachers will be an imperative for the world, as stated by UNESCO (2018).
To grow into effective entities, LTAs need to develop a ‘shared’ vision (Reynolds, 2018), not just
the vision of the leadership but also of the stakeholders at large. They need to adopt criticality,
creativity, and collaboration in order to understand and incorporate change. It is also suggested
that research is essential to recognise the potential of language professional associations in the
twenty-first century (Paran, 2016). Researching the associations and researching their members
and research by their members must be part of the continuous professional development of LTAs
themselves. Further, Lamb (2012) suggests that there is a need to create lobbies to support lan-
guage professionals and there is also a need for LTAs to gain a big (or a bigger) role in developing
educational policies. There is thus a need for LTAs to be seen not just as professional associations
but be recognised as professional networks.
Acknowledgements
The author is indebted to Dr Fauzia Shamim, founder member and Coordinator (President),
SPELT; Dr Laxman Gnawali, long-time member and Senior Vice President, NELTA; and Moshiur
Rahman, long-time member and program manager, BELTA, for being respondents and for their
constant cooperation during the research and writing process.
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23
CURRICULUM OF ENGLISH
LANGUAGE TEACHER
EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH
Relevance of Morgan’s critical ELT approach
Anwar Ahmed
Introduction
Due to an increasing demand for competent English language teachers, Bangladeshi uni-
versities are offering degree programmes specifically designed to prepare future teachers of
English. While teachers’ professional learning and development continue beyond their formal
education within the university classrooms, teacher education programmes play a key role in
constructing the teacher they eventually become.Teacher education programmes influence not
only the teacher candidates’ present education but also their future learning and the kind of
professional identity and wisdom they develop over time. In this chapter, I focus on the cur-
riculum of English language teacher education (ELTE) in Bangladesh and discuss how curric-
ulum may be re-conceptualised in order to prepare English language teachers as transformative
practitioners. After presenting a theoretical discussion of the concept of curriculum, I engage
in an autoethnographic reflective inquiry and explore how Morgan’s critical work may be
helpful to design and implement curriculum as a vehicle for democratic and justice-oriented
language education.
Conceptualising curriculum
The concept of curriculum has an unsettling history and competing definitions. In its simplest
form, curriculum means the what, how, and when of the content that students are supposed to
learn at an educational institution. The word curriculum is derived from the Latin currere, which
means the course to be run.The notion of curriculum, Eisner (2002) writes, “implies a track, a set of
obstacles or tasks that an individual is to overcome, something that has a beginning and an end,
something that one intends to complete” (p. 25). Curriculum scholars are interested in various
characters, components, and aims of education. In a narrow sense, a curriculum can mean a
course of study designed to teach specific knowledge and skills to individuals within a specific
period of time. In a broad sense, it may encompass any experience that influences (positively
and negatively) an individual’s knowledge, skills, and perspectives. Dewey’s (1916, p. 76) notion
of education as “reconstruction or reorganization of experience which adds to the meaning of
experience, and which increases ability to direct the course of subsequent experience” is aligned
with this broad conception of curriculum.
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English language teacher education curriculum
Various types of curriculum have been discussed in the literature. I briefly outline four of them
in the following: the intended curriculum, the taught curriculum, the experienced curriculum,
and the hidden curriculum. The intended curriculum refers to what is overtly written in pub-
licly available documents regarding how educational institutions will facilitate students’ learning.
Today, many curriculum writers attempt to provide a quick how-to remedy for the educational
mandates of governments and corporations. One of the criticisms of the intended curriculum is
that it promotes and legitimises the cultures and ideologies of dominant classes, and perpetuates
relations of domination through schooling (Apple, 1990).
Teaching the intended curriculum is a fundamentally difficult task because what the intended
curriculum intends may not be what teachers interpret and make of it. Therefore, the taught cur-
riculum “is what occurs between teachers and students and between students and students” within
a classroom (Eisner, 2002, pp. 32–33). Curriculum scholars have investigated why and how the
taught curriculum differs from the intended, and whether or not the differences between intended
and taught curricula are the results of teachers’ misunderstandings of the curricula or their cre-
ative disobedience (Schubert, 2008).They have found that all planned curricula become modified
during the process of implementation and such modification is necessary to respond to the con-
textual realities of teaching and learning (Marsh, 2004).
Due to various factors, a curriculum may not be taught as intended. Such factors operate at
personal, social, organisational, and cultural levels. Moreover, what is taught in the classroom
may not be equally experienced by all students. For this complexity, we have the notion of
experienced curriculum, which is concerned more about the learner than about the teacher.
Ultimately the learning of a student depends, to a large extent, on how she/he responds to
the taught curriculum and what kinds of personal and cultural resources she/he brings to the
interpretation of the curriculum. A mismatch between intended curriculum and experienced
curriculum is well documented in the literature. For example, Hume and Coll (2010) observed
that curriculum interpretation is influenced by various factors from “both outside and inside
of the schools [that] have a strong bearing on the curriculum enacted by teachers and actually
experienced by the students” (p. 43). Such interpretation often goes against the aims of national
or central curriculum policies.
Furthermore, there are elements in the curriculum that are usually hidden from the public
eye. The fact that something is not explicitly mentioned in the curriculum does not mean that
it will cease to influence teaching, learning, and subsequent educational experiences. This not-
mentioned component of the curriculum is discussed under the banner of hidden curriculum. As
Giroux (1983) wrote, hidden curriculum contains “unstated norms, values, and beliefs embedded
in and transmitted to students”, and is based on “deep-seated philosophical and ideological
perspectives that clash over the very meaning and nature of social reality” (p. 47).The hidden cur-
riculum can be intended or unintended on the part of the curriculum writers. For example, the
possibility of letting students use their mother tongue in ESL/EFL classes has long been hidden
from the official curriculum. One possible explanation of this practice is English-native-speaker
teachers’ fear of losing power in the classroom.
Theorising curriculum
Historically, curriculum has been theorised in three broad ways: prescriptive, descriptive, and
critical-exploratory (Marsh, 2004). Prescriptive theorisers such as Ralph Tyler and Hilda Taba
were interested in finding the ‘best’ models to design curriculum so that they could improve
the educational endeavours of schools. Descriptive theorisers such as Decker Walker and Joseph
Schwab were interested in understanding how the curriculum design takes place in actual
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Anwar Ahmed
educational settings. Finally, critical-exploratory theorisers such as Elliot Eisner and William
Pinar attempted to examine curriculum in relation to broader social and cultural contexts. In
this chapter, I follow the tradition of critical-exploratory approach to curriculum theorising.
In particular, I adopt two general approaches to curriculum analysis.The first approach highlights
“the connections between schooling and the existing social order”, which may be helpful for
an “analysis of prevalent social structures and mainstream curriculum practices” (Marsh, 2004,
p. 207). For instance, how does the ELTE curriculum reproduce existing cultural practices without
making them more socially just? The second approach to curriculum theorising emphasises
“the personal nature of learning…as the basis for action” (p. 208). This approach is concerned
more with the experienced curriculum than with the intended curriculum. Together, these two
approaches to curriculum aim to uncover ideologies and practices that enable some learners,
while marginalise others, in their endeavours in personal development and social change.
The curriculum of ELTE

The body of ELTE literature is expanding at a remarkable speed. Recently, we have seen the
publication of several edited books focused specifically on ELTE (e.g. Banegas, 2017; Crandall &
Christison, 2016; Farrell, 2015). In addition to many articles published in general English language
teaching (ELT) journals, we have also seen specialised journals devoted to ELTE, for example,
English Language Teacher Education and Development (http://www.elted.net) and the Journal of
Second Language Teacher Education (http://www.sltejournal.com). Despite this growth of interest in
ELTE, there has been relatively little attention paid to the curriculum of ELTE (Nguyen, 2013).
Analysing the curriculum of ELTE is important because it helps us understand the relevance
and functions of the target language in a broader socio-economic-political context. Regarding
the ELTE curriculum, Graves (2009) wrote that the most urgent question “is not what is relevant –
almost anything can be made relevant to language – but who makes it relevant, how, and why. In
other words, teachers themselves need to conceptualize and experience the relevance in their
practice” (p. 120). Thus, she challenges us to examine the curriculum of ELTE and explore ways
of re-conceptualising it in ways that will be transformative for both teachers and students. From
a critical-explorative perspective of curriculum theorising, we need to ask “whether the teacher
education curriculum is educating teachers to replicate practice or to challenge and change it”
(Graves, 2009, p. 121).
An analytical framework
For a long time, language teacher education has been studied following three models proposed
by Wallace (1991): the craft model, the applied science model, and the reflective model. The
craft model views good teaching as appropriate techniques applied by an expert. Therefore, the
trainee teacher needs to become an apprentice and learn expert knowledge and skills from vet-
eran teachers. The applied science model views good teaching as applying scientific knowledge
to classroom practice. It assumes that there is a body of scientific knowledge about the nature
of language and pedagogy, and that good teachers need to have a strong grip on that body of
knowledge. Finally, the reflective model considers good teaching as a continuous journey of pro-
fessional development through deliberate reflection on practice.
While Wallace’s typology has its merit and has had considerable impact on the literature of
language teacher education, some commentators have argued that this typology is incompatible
with the realities of the 21st century. For example, Cook (2013) thinks that Wallace’s typology
is inward looking. The global context of language teaching and learning has radically changed
358
since the time of Wallace’s writing. After discussing the shifting landscapes of ELT, Cook (2013)
suggested four directions for ELTE:
• Direction 1: Teacher education should focus on the communicative, linguistic, and pedagogic
consequences of constant rapid change in communication technology. (p. 16)
• Direction 2: Teacher education needs to prepare teachers to adjust to the state of the English
language in the contemporary world, to be less prescriptive, and to accept and provide non-
native models. (p. 17)
• Direction 3: Teachers need preparation to engage with their learners’ own languages while
teaching English, not only because this is needed and pedagogically efficient, but because it
counterbalances the impoverishment of identity which comes when interlingual communi-
cation is one way. (p. 18)
• Direction 4: Teachers should be educated in a way which helps them critique and resist a neo-
liberal business model of language teaching. (p. 19)
I utilise these four directions to explain the curriculum of ELTE in Bangladesh. These directions
are helpful to see whether or how the curriculum is responding to contemporary changes in
education and in the broader society.
Language and education in Bangladesh

Like most postcolonial nation-states, Bangladesh retained the language of the British Raj.
Bangladesh’s history of English language education is particularly interesting, provided the
country’s long struggle for a mother tongue-based national identity. Much of the country’s pol-
itical history also revolved around this issue. The land which is now Bangladesh was known as
Bengal and it was under the British colonial empire for almost two centuries, from 1757 to 1947.
When the Indian subcontinent gained independence from the British Empire in 1947, Bengal
was made an eastern province of Pakistan. From the beginning, there was growing tension
between the Bangla-speaking East Pakistan and the Urdu-speaking West Pakistan. Politicians
from West Pakistan dominated the central government and they chose Urdu as the only national
language of Pakistan. People in East Pakistan did not agree.They started to protest, which reached
its culmination in 1952 when the central government used excessive force to dismantle the pro-
test against the imposition of Urdu as the only national language.
The Bangla-speaking people’s struggle for establishing Bangla as an official language became
a symbol for a growing desire for self-governance and independence from West Pakistan. The
Language Movement of 1952 provided ideological and moral support to the popular movement
for independence. Ultimately, after a 9-month war with the central government, East Pakistan
gained independence and established itself as a sovereign state in 1971. The new country was
named Bangladesh. In 1972, the constitution of Bangladesh recognised the importance of revising
and updating the existing school curricula. New education reform initiatives were based on the
principles of nationalism, democracy, socialism, and secularism. It is important to note that these
principles were the major driving force for the independence movement in 1971. Regarding
language policy, the new government of Bangladesh introduced Bangla as the only medium of
instruction to all government-funded schools. It envisioned mother tongue-based instruction as
an integral part of what Imam (2005) described as nation-building education. However, a sig-
nificant portion of the country’s elite class continued to invest in English-medium private edu-
cation. For them, there was no alternative to learning English if the country was to benefit from
economic globalisation. Despite various government initiatives since 1972, “the ongoing friction
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Anwar Ahmed
between Bengali and English, both in policy and practice, and in the quintessential cultural tem-
perament in the nation has left deep scars in the formation of an acceptable language policy to
date” (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014, p. 4). Amid such friction, the ELT sector in Bangladesh is
thriving, and the country takes pride as one of the largest ELT markets in the world.
The curriculum of ELTE: An autoethnographic look

Many universities – both public and private – are now offering BA and MA programmes in Applied
Linguistics, ELT, and TESOL. My literature search did not yield any published research on the
analysis of ELTE curriculum in Bangladesh. Therefore, I draw primarily on my anecdotal experi-
ence and observation of ELTE in Bangladesh. I grew up in Bangladesh where I learned English
as a foreign language. Then I taught English for Academic Purposes at two universities in Dhaka,
the capital city of Bangladesh. I also taught a course on Computer Assisted Language Learning to
pre-service English language teachers. Since the start of my career as a language teacher in 2007,
I have conducted research on ELT in Bangladesh, and published several articles and book chapters,
and presented at academic conferences (e.g. Anwaruddin, 2013, 2016a, 2016b, 2017). Hence, my
approach to curriculum analysis will be primarily autoethnographic. I find autoethnography helpful
because it draws a connection between the personal and the social. While there are competing
definitions of the term, I use autoethnography as a method to reflect on my own experience and
emotions in order to develop an in-depth understanding of a particular phenomenon which has
broader significance for others.Thus, my conceptualisation is influenced by Ellis (2004) who defines
autoethnography as “research, writing, story, and method that connect the autobiographical and
personal to the cultural, social, and political” (p. xix). Using this autoethnographic lens, I look at the
curriculum of LTE programmes such as MA in ELT,TESOL, or Applied Linguistics in Bangladesh.
Observers such as Hamid and Erling (2016) were concerned about a “lack of professionalism
among [Bangladeshi] English teachers regarding their language proficiency, content knowledge
and pedagogical skills” (p. 40). Perhaps, to address such criticism, language teacher education
programmes have focused on improving teachers’ professionalism. One key area of profession-
alism is the development of content (subject matter) and pedagogical (instructional methods)
knowledge. However, if we return to Cook’s (2013) four directions for ELTE, we will see that
they are not properly reflected in the contemporary ELTE curriculum in Bangladesh.1 Cook’s
first direction is that ELTE needs to respond to the rapid changes in communication technology.
This is particularly relevant for Bangladesh because the current government has a mission to
make a ‘digital Bangladesh’ before the country celebrates its 50th birthday in 2021. In my obser-
vation, ELTE is not paying sufficient attention to integrating information and communication
technologies in the curriculum. Although some universities have a course on technology in ELT
or computer-assisted language learning in their official curriculum, this course is not frequently
offered. For example, this was the case when I taught at a renowned private university in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Then I designed and taught a course on Computer Assisted Language Learning for
BA honours students in the English Department.
Cook’s second direction is to keep up with the changing linguistic landscapes of the world.
Today’s English language learners are no longer expected to interact only with ‘native speakers’ of
English from England, as was the case in the British Bengal before 1947. Now, in the new global
context, the majority of English-speakers speak English as a second or third language.This reality
necessitates a re-conceptualisation of the curriculum to focus on many varieties of English, not
just British or American English. Unfortunately, the curricula of ELT and ELTE in Bangladesh
have remained heavily influenced by the British and American traditions of TESOL education.
This poses a problem of cultural mismatch between Western ELT models and local cultural
360
values in Bangladesh. This is why Chowdhury and Le Ha (2008) recommended that ELTE
courses “equip teachers with knowledge about the importance of making explicit to students the
politics and power embedded in English” (p. 315).
Cook’s (2013) third direction is that English language teachers need preparation to capitalise
on students’ mother tongue. In the official curriculum of ELTE, there is no course with a focus on
students’ first language. Despite research-based support for utilising students’ diverse linguistic
repertoire, the ELTE curriculum in Bangladesh has remained predominantly English centric.This
English-centrism is not only pedagogically limiting, but it may also have a negative impact on
students’ identity. For example, during my undergraduate study at a university in Bangladesh, I was
subject to public shaming by one of my professors for my L1 influence on my English pronunci-
ation. I was belittled in front of my classmates, which has had long-term impact on my identity as
an English language learner. Additionally, during my MA TESOL study at another university in
Bangladesh where I taught after my graduation and designed syllabus for CALL, I did not learn
or complete any assignment about the pedagogical implications of making connections between
students’ L1 and their learning of English. Furthermore, I have never read a journal article or
attended a conference presentation about the utilisation of Bangla in English language classrooms.
Cook’s (2013) fourth and final direction is for preparing teachers who will resist a neoliberal
business model of language education. Cook observed that “the aim of all education, including
English language learning, is assumed to be the promotion of economic growth, as though
growth were the solution to all of the world’s ills” (p. 18). This economic model of cost-benefit
analysis in education is detrimental because it bypasses the questions of social justice and equality.
If we look back at the history of Bangladesh as a nation-state, we will see that the founding
fathers envisioned a democratic and egalitarian society. Therefore, we cannot avoid the question
of social justice and remain preoccupied with an instrumental approach to English language
education where the principal goal is to educate young people to participate in the economic
globalisation and remain silent when it comes to fighting for social justice. Hence, it is important
that the ELTE curriculum views the classroom as a political space.
It is not my intention to make definitive claims about what actually goes on within the four
walls of classroom when ELTE curriculum is implemented. As discussed above, there is usu-
ally a significant difference between the planned, the taught, and the experienced curriculum.
However, based on my autoethnographic analysis, I argue that the curricula of MA in ELT and
TESOL programmes in Bangladesh prioritise the preparation of teachers who are expected
to teach English as an instrument to participate in the neoliberal economic globalisation. This
priority reflects a social reality in Bangladesh where most parents want their children to learn
English as early as possible. The primary motive here is to ensure an economically secure future
for their children. More proficiency in English means more opportunities to get well-paying
jobs, study abroad, or work abroad. From this perspective, the curriculum of ELTE shows an
emphasis on commitment to students, that is, to see things through students’ eyes and to help them
become successful in examinations (Elbow, 1986). However, the curriculum fails to focus suffi-
ciently on commitment to society. Against this backdrop, I make a case for re-conceptualising the
curriculum as a vehicle for democracy, civic participation, and social justice (Ladson-Billings,
2016). For such re-conceptualisation, I now turn to the critical ELT of Brian Morgan.
Morgan’s critical approach to ELT

My proposal for re-conceptualising the ELTE curriculum is informed by critical pedagogy. At
the heart of critical pedagogy is the conviction that education is inherently political. In the
field of ELT, there is a solid body of work built upon the foundation of critical pedagogy.
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Anwar Ahmed
Critical approaches to ELT are generally concerned with how best to create educational envir-
onment and experience that will encourage and enable teachers and students to become agents
of personal, social, and political change.
However, critical pedagogy has also attracted criticism from within the field of ELT. For
example, Hyland (2018) has complained, “many of the canonical texts in Critical EAP and
Critical pedagogy more generally are too remote from everyday practice, favouring impene-
trable jargon over classroom approaches, and therefore offering poor guides to pedagogy”
(p. 392). He further argues that critical pedagogy fails to offer readily implementable classroom
activities, and thus creates a distance between theory and practice. My response to Hyland is that
he begins with an inappropriate definition of critical pedagogy. Educators who practice critical
pedagogy are not afraid of the everyday, the personal, and the mundane. Theory provides them
with guiding principles, and they are concerned with the practice of everyday life. For them, the
personal is the political. As Freire (2007) said:
As progressive educators, one of our main tasks seems to be with respect to generating
political dreams in people, political yearnings, political desires. It is impossible for me,
as an educator, to build up the yearnings of other men and women. That task is theirs,
not mine. (p. 5)
Thus, educators inspired by critical pedagogy take a dialectical approach to knowledge gener-
ation and strive to create a favourable context for students to exercise their personal, academic,
and political agency.
A bad definition of critical pedagogy does not render it worthless, and further claims made on
the basis of such a definition suffer from validity problems. One way of correcting this widespread
misunderstanding of critical pedagogy is to demarcate the meaning of this term and talk about crit-
ical pedagogy in relation to specific thinkers or educators. For example, we can begin a discussion by
saying that I am interested in ‘Freire’s critical pedagogy’, rather than ‘critical pedagogy’ as a blanket
term. Using it as a blanket term creates possibilities for misinterpretation and misunderstanding of
the meaning of the critical, which will be inevitably coloured by the reader’s own pre-understanding,
personal opinions, and previous experiences. Therefore, in this chapter, I refer specifically to Brian
Morgan’s critical approach to ELT. A critical approach is now more important than ever because
new forms of socio-political oppression in our contemporary time, increasing marketisation of lan-
guage teaching, and unequal distribution of wealth and its impact on accessing high-quality language
education warrant such as an approach. A critical approach is particularly relevant for a politically
contested place like Bangladesh where ideological conflicts have dominated crucial social policies
such as equitable access to education and employment. Morgan’s (1998, 2007, 2016, 2017) wide-
ranging works on critical ELT aim at such issues in pedagogically transformative ways.
In his 1998 book The ESL Classroom: Teaching, Critical Practice, and Community Development,
Morgan showed why the theories, materials, and practices of language teaching needed to be
relevant to the social, cultural, and political conditions and the needs of each group of learners.
Drawing on his own teaching of English in Canada and China, he made a strong case for encour-
aging students to pay attention to their evolving personal, social and cultural identities, and to
fight for justice and equity at all levels. He also underscored ESL teachers’ responsibility for
students and for society at large. As Morgan (1998) wrote,
In addition to teaching language structure, we might explore how language is used to

structure expectation, participation, and exclusion in our society. Such an approach actively
encourages social advocacy and critical thinking as central to language curricula. (pp. 5–6)
362
Teaching ESL is clearly a political activity. If we do not take a critical approach to materials and
methods of teaching, this lack itself becomes a political move because this decision is based on a
particular vision of society. Such a vision is often for an economically prosperous society where
students will use the English language to participate in the economic globalisation, but will be
ill-prepared to demand social justice. Elsewhere I discussed how the neoliberal shift in the edu-
cation sector in Bangladesh has contributed to the privatisation and commercialisation of educa-
tion (Anwaruddin, 2013). In short, neoliberal policies aim to prepare students as competing and
entrepreneurial individuals who pursue education mainly for personal gains. This is reflected in
Bangladesh government’s and foreign donors’ emphasis on the need to develop students’ English
language skills so that they can benefit from the economic globalisation.
A socially just response to this neoliberal shift requires a critical approach to teaching and
learning. After surveying Morgan’s works on critical ELT, I have identified three central concepts
that I believe have important implications for the ELTE curriculum in Bangladesh.The concepts
are identity, community, and social justice.
In recent years, the concept of identity has attracted much attention from second language
researchers, especially from those interested in a postmodern notion of identity which is always
in-the-making. Identity is particularly relevant for second language learners because they not only
learn an additional language but also learn to see who they are when they learn a new language
and cultural practices associated with it. Second language learning research has demonstrated
that students’ identities evolve as they navigate the complex processes of learning a new lan-
guage.Their newly formed identities may at times conflict with their existing values and cultural
practices. Thus, learning a new language is not simply a cognitive matter; it involves learners’
emotional and ideological investments. Morgan’s work has been instrumental in understanding
identity because it has challenged decontextualised and objectified forms of ESL student identity
“as insular and static, passed down intact over time and across locations” (Morgan, 1997, p. 431).
Morgan showed that identities are not fixed blueprints of experience. Instead, they are resources
with which “ESL students negotiate their place in a new social order and, if need be, challenge
it through the meaning‐making activities they participate in” (p. 431).
When it comes to language teacher education, identity is of paramount importance. How
teachers see their roles in school and society will influence their pedagogy throughout their
teaching career. Teachers’ identities are often shaped and reshaped by competing discourses and
values (Phan, 2008). Therefore, it is important that teacher education programmes focus specif-
ically on the formation of teachers’ identities. To highlight this point, Morgan (2004) described
teacher identity as pedagogy. He argued that teacher identities are always implicated in social
and political futures imagined and materialised through curricular practices. He showed why
“research agenda on teacher identity in bilingual and second language education would need
to explore the degree to which theories from other disciplines can be ‘imported’… to inform
pedagogical concerns” (Morgan, 2004, p. 174). Here, Morgan emphasised the importance of
expanding the knowledge base of the ELT profession in an intra-disciplinary way. This approach
to teacher identity “requires us to look inward as we look outward in our attempts to expand or
reinvigorate the knowledge base of bilingual and second language teacher education. It entails
a watchful, critical reflexivity in our responses to a theory’s insights and ‘exclusions’ as they
emerge in local sites of practice” (Morgan, 2004, p. 175).Thus, an expanding knowledge base and
openness to social critique should inform teachers’ professional identities.
An explicit focus on identity in the curriculum of ELTE needs to be a priority because the
historical context of Bangladesh demands it. A language-based identity of the people of Bengal
kindled a national movement to break from West Pakistan and establish a new sovereign country.
Although the 1972 constitution of Bangladesh envisioned a future based on linguistic equity, the
363
Anwar Ahmed
subsequent socio-political conditions did not facilitate the materialisation of such a vision. Since
its independence as a sovereign country, Bangladesh has faced several challenges both from within
and outside the country, which have continually challenged and (re)shaped the national identity,
based on the Bangla language. The role of English in education and cultural identity formation
has been at the centre of popular, scholarly, and policy debates. Some observers believe that “class
distinctions, geopolitics, social communities, educational policies, and manipulation of language
have played crucial roles in the struggle to forge a new identity while maintaining an emotional
attachment to the language and culture of the past” (Afrin & Baines, 2018, n.p.). Today, compe-
tency in English is associated with an upper-class elite identity, which is at odds with the country’s
historical struggle for a mother tongue-based and egalitarian national and cultural identity.
The second major concept I would like to discuss is community. Although the notion of
community is sometimes criticised for its vagueness, it occupies an important place in political
philosophy. In a broad sense, community emphasises the collective good of a people, rather than
individual freedoms and rights. Contrary to classical liberalism, communitarianism maintains that
social freedom should never be about an individual’s choice, which can be arbitrary and harmful
to others.Yet, the proponents of community are not oblivious of dissent and disagreement within
the community. In fact, they believe that the rules of engagement within a community must be
deliberated through vigorous debates, and the community should always be open to critique
and reformation for the betterment of people. Thus, the community view of self and others is in
contrast with the liberal view which appears to be narrow and may lead to arbitrary choices. As
the Canadian political philosopher Charles Taylor (1992) argued, we need to understand self in
relation to others. Without the social signification of others in the community, we cannot make
choices that are egalitarian and just.
Morgan has taken a community-based approach to ELT. This approach treats all educational
projects as socially and ideologically driven. In other words, what happens in the classroom is
never detached from the reality and expectations of the broader society. For this reason, Morgan
(2002) views the classroom as a dynamic site, where “instances of meaning-making are also acts
of (re)affirmation and (re)definition of the traditions and semiotic resources (e.g. symbols, sounds,
and gestures) that anchor collectivities or bring about new forms of difference in contact with
the broader society” (p. 149). In Morgan’s conceptualisation of community-based ELT, “social
concerns are conceived of as equal to and sometimes prior to linguistic ones” (p. 149). However,
this emphasis on the sociality of language does not mean that teachers neglect traditional ESL
activities such as pronunciation, vocabulary instruction, or L2 reading and writing. Rather,
the point is to highlight interconnections, to show students how particular texts and language
forms – within specific situations and historical contexts – can be used to position individuals
and groups, enhancing community life or undermining its cohesion (Morgan, 2002, p. 149).
Thus, the community approach to ELT asks us to pay attention to local forms of language
learning knowledge and pedagogical priorities that may be conflictual with the traditional rule-
governing theory formation based on decontextualised facts of language and learners.
A community approach to ELT is particularly important in Bangladesh where social class has
been closely linked to English language education, which in turn is linked to social stratification.
As Imam (2005) poignantly described:
The elite English medium schools in Bangladesh… are the upscale version of the World
Bank and Asian Development Bank ideal of private education. The downside of this
policy orientation is that while not all private schools or all English medium schools are
of high educational quality, by forming the English language private school as modern
and global, all public schools tend to be displaced downwards. (p. 478)
364
Consequently, a neutral view of ELT undermines the education and mother tongue-based iden-
tity formation in the country’s public schools. It is, therefore, imperative that the curriculum
of ELTE in Bangladesh take a community approach where pre-service teachers learn how to
understand the needs and concerns of specific communities. There are at least three implications
of Morgan’s community-based approach for Bangladeshi ELT. First, ELT curricula need to be
continuously modified and updated to reflect the needs and priorities of a given community.
Second, there has to be a recognition that learning additional languages is simultaneously a pro-
cess of identity formation.This may encourage students to imagine their roles in their envisioned
social futures. Finally, a community-based approach must be open to variability in teaching
principles and practices. These implications point to the need for ELTE curricula to reflect a
community-based approach to pedagogy.
The third major concept is social justice. Morgan’s critical ELT is concerned with equity and
fairness and how to work collectively to achieve such goals. Against ELT’s historic indifference
towards politics, Morgan demonstrated how to teach politics in the ESL classroom. Drawing on
his experience of teaching the Gulf War, Morgan (1998) wrote:
The narrowing of public debate has other frightening consequences…. [P]atriotism

is often one of society’s most privileged forms of amnesia. The euphoria of patriotic
victory, with its intolerance for dissent, easily transfer to other areas of public debate.
Those ascribed the status of dissenters then find themselves increasingly vulnerable.
Such developments, if not challenged, engender the formation of totalitarian authority.
Educating for a critical and active democracy, then, is not only about the present but
about the future. (p. 40)
In Bangladesh, one of the challenges to fostering such public debate in pedagogical contexts is
the use of English as a medium of instruction and the symbolic value and prestige attached to
this language. Debates and discussions aiming at democratic thinking and social justice have
to begin with the presumption of equality and respect for diverse voices. However, English is
often used as a tool to silence those students who are not fluent in it. For example, Sultana’s
(2014a) research shows how English as a medium of instruction in Bangladesh works to
empower some students while marginalising others. It systematically excludes students with
limited proficiency in English from classroom discussions and learning activities. As a result,
these students feel segregated and ‘perceive themselves as being deficient’ (Sultana, 2014a,
p. 11). Thus, English as a medium of instruction poses a challenge to educating for democracy
and social justice.
We have seen that both political and economic forces determine who benefits from the English
language education in Bangladesh. As Hamid (2016) wrote, “while macro-level policy-makers
have been guided by ‘linguistic communism’ in introducing English for all, it is actually market
forces that determine, to a large extent, who attains linguistic competence and whose compe-
tence is likely to be transformed into linguistic capital” (p. 36). Foreign aids and national educa-
tional reforms have been justified in the name of equal opportunity for all. In such discourses,
the issue of English language education has always occupied the centre stage. However, Erling’s
(2017) recent study has found that “while English language skills might enhance opportunities
for individuals, they also appear to reinforcing embedded inequalities and therefore not neces-
sarily contributing to the well-being of societies” (p. 388). In this light, a political approach to the
English language education is necessary to shed light on who can benefit from it and under what
conditions.Without such critical awareness at local and national levels, the vision of a socially just
education may remain an unattainable dream.
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Anwar Ahmed
Conclusion
The three central concepts of Morgan’s critical ELT may prove helpful to re-conceptualise the
curriculum of ELTE in Bangladesh. Pre-service teacher education programmes need to focus
specifically on identity, community, and social justice. By doing so, they may prepare language
teachers as transformative practitioners who will “look at the ‘bigger picture’ and become aware
of the larger socio-political and economic conditions (e.g. globalisation, neoliberalism) that shape
educational agendas, academic rules and curricula, and the disciplinary content students are
required to learn” (Morgan, 2009, pp. 88–89). Given the historical and political conditions in
Bangladesh where language has played pivotal roles, we need language teachers who will teach
not only the grammar and vocabulary of a foreign language, but also how the language functions
within the existing social order to widen or close the gap between the rich and the poor,
between the powerful and the weak. Thus, Morgan’s notion of language teachers as transforma-
tive practitioners is crucial for understanding and changing “the process by which language and
identities are continually made and remade within the historical, political, social, and cultural
dynamics of the [Bangladeshi] context” (Sultana, 2014b, p. 40).
This chapter is not an attempt to transfer and apply Western ideas to a non-Western con-
text. Rather, the primary goal of the chapter is to shed light on ideological and methodological
challenges that stand in the way of fostering critical language teachers in the field of ELT in
Bangladesh. The premise of my arguments in this chapter has been the belief “that all realities,
Western and non-Western, have versions of oppositional readings, cross-examinations, and self-
conscious, self-analytic orientations in them” (Morgan & Ramanathan, 2005, p. 162). Therefore,
the language teacher with a transformative vision needs to continually reflect on and revise his/her
assumptions, understandings, and practices. To achieve this goal, Morgan’s critical ELT proves
helpful for two main reasons. First, his works have emerged primarily from the officially bilin-
gual Canadian context where language is intricately related to people’s identity and everyday
practice. Second, without perpetuating the ideological blind-spots of critique, his works provide
practical implications for ELT within the contemporary realities of a globalised, multilingual
world where the teaching and learning of English occupies a messy and contested site. It is my
hope that language teacher educators will find the implications helpful and will adjust their cur-
ricula to reflect the changing realities of English language education at local and national levels.
Such re-conceptualisation of ELTE curriculum may enable teacher educators to “guard against
becoming ‘servants of the system’” (Graves, 2009, p. 122) and to facilitate a collective struggle for
a more equitable and socially just future.
Note
1 This problem is not limited to the Bangladeshi context only. For a critique of the global ELTE curric-
ulum, see Anwaruddin (2016b).
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24
ENGLISH FOR HUMAN
CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
Introduction
English has emerged as the dominant global language for international business, finance, employ-
ment, and knowledge production (Ammon, 2010). Considering this role of English, many
countries across the world have introduced English into their national curricula (Hamid, 2010;
Price, 2014). This policy investment in English is often underpinned by discourses of develop-
ment (Bruthiaux, 2002; Coleman, 2017). In light of these discourses, proficiency in English is
considered human capital, and it is often argued that linguistic capital of English increases indi-
viduals’ productivity, which in turn increases their income (Chiswick, 2008; Grin, 2001). This
understanding of English as human capital has influenced English language education (ELE)
policy in developing societies, creating a new policy trend called English for human capital devel-
opment (Hamid, 2010; Rassool, 2013). The policy trend prioritises developing learners’ com-
munication skills deploying communicative language teaching (CLT) approaches. This chapter
seeks to demonstrate that the emergence of the human capital translation of ELE in developing
societies is grounded in neoliberal globalisation, which has brought local and global actors and
agencies together. Both the policy trend and the CLT pedagogy can be seen as a response to the
conditions created by neoliberalism, which has been dominant since the last two decades of the
twentieth century. We focus on ELE in Bangladesh as an illustrative case study.
Bangladesh’s economy has significantly integrated into the global economy in the past two
decades. During the same period, the country has experienced sustained economic growth as
manifested by the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 6.5% since 2010 (World
Bank Group, 2017). In this context, human capital development has been heavily emphasised in
almost all public policies (see, e.g. Planning Commission, 2015). The country’s latest education
policy has also emphasised the role of education in poverty alleviation and economic growth
(Ministry of Education, 2010). The current public policies in Bangladesh consider education as
an investment, which is expected to contribute to national development (Planning Commission,
2015).These policies draw on human capital theory (HCT), which argues that investment in edu-
cation is a key to economic development (Harber, 2014). HCT advocates for training students in
skills and competencies that have direct relevance to the market (Blair, 2011; Spring, 2015).Thus,
from the HCT perspective, the major objective of education is to increase productivity of people
so they can contribute to individual prosperity and national growth (Harber, 2014).
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We start off defining human capital and considering its relevance to languages in a globalised
world, where the English language has been commodified under the influence of neoliberalism.
We illustrate how globalisation and neoliberalism have worked as key forces that have shaped the
current position of English under the new world order. This helps in understanding the discursive
basis on which national investment in ELE is made in developing societies. Thus, ‘Human cap-
ital and languages’ and ‘Globalisation, neoliberalism, and English for human capital’ sections of the
chapter construct the conceptual background for examining the emergence of English for human
capital development.‘English for human capital development’ section elaborates on this policy trend
along with an examination of how CLT pedagogy relates to human capital formation. In ‘English
for human capital development in Bangladesh’ section, we substantiate the policy trend by exam-
ining various aspects of ELE in Bangladesh. Our aim in the chapter is to trace the emergence of this
instrumentalist ELE policy trend and illustrate how this orientation is underpinned by the discourses
of individual mobility and social development in a globalised world. Our examination draws on a
critical analysis of policies, curriculum, and media resources as well as the academic literature.
Human capital and languages

Human capital is defined as skills and competencies that are embodied in human beings (Blair,
2011). The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2001) categorised
human capital as hard and soft skills. Hard skills include literacy and numeracy, while soft skills “refer
to character traits that will help the workers succeed in the workplace” (Spring, 2015, p. 55). In
terms of linguistic human capital, hard skills include reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills,
while soft skills include intra- and inter-personal skills, ability to work in teams, and solve problems
using language (OECD, 2001).According to Chiswick and Miller (2002),“language skills are a form
of human capital. As with other forms of human capital, language skills are created at a sacrifice of
time and other resources, are embodied in the person and are productive” (p. 469). The economic
productivity of languages is measured by economists in an emerging sub-field called economics of
language (see, e.g. Grin, 2003). Using the concepts and tools from economics, language economists
estimate the value of a language in formal economy. In other words, they estimate how skills and
competencies in a particular language work as human capital for individuals (Grin, 2003). Empirical
studies in this area represent English as a valued capital in contemporary economy. It is believed
that communicative competence in English will contribute to the increased wage premium for
employees (see, e.g. Azam, Chin, & Prakash, 2010; Grin, 2001). In the following section, we examine
the forces that have shaped the current human capital value of English in the formal economy.
Globalisation, neoliberalism, and English for human capital

The key forces that have shaped the current value of the English language are globalisation and
neoliberalism. Although the beginning of the instrumental potential of English can be traced to
the colonial period, globalisation has added an unprecedented value to the language (Graddol,
1997; Kirkpatrick, 2007). Globalisation refers to the interconnected networks of countries and
the global integration of economy (Harber, 2014). In the context of the globalising economy,
English has emerged as the dominant language for global business and employment (Ammon,
2010; Graddol, 1997). The relationship between the English language and globalisation has been
summarised by Hamid (2016, p. 260) in the following way:
Whether English is the driver of globalisation or vice versa may be unclear, but clearly,
the relationship between them is symbiotic: If English provides the linguistic and
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English for human capital development
communicative infrastructure to globalisation, the latter promotes the cause of English

by representing language as imperative for participation in globalised networks, markets,
and resources.
This position of English as a language of globalisation has been endorsed by the major globalising
agencies such as the World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), International Monetary
Fund (IMF), Department for International Development (DFID) of the British government, and
the British Council which play a significant role in spreading English and promoting ELE in
developing societies (see, e.g. Block, Gray, & Holborow, 2012). Globalisation is underpinned
by neoliberal ideologies. According to Barnawi (2018, p. 1), neoliberalism is “the philosophy of
economic and social transformation taking place according to the logic of free market doctrines
that dictate the way economies and societies function”. Following this market doctrine, English
has been commodified (Block, 2008). Like other marketable commodities, English is considered
a commodity which can be exchanged in formal economic settings (Park & Wee, 2012). At the
heart of neoliberalism is the concept of competition (The Guardian, 2016). Given the dominant
position of English and its role in the new work order, English is seen as a key tool for ensuring
an edge in the competitive world economic system (Euromonitor International, 2010; Roshid,
2018). Proficiency in English is, therefore, considered human capital for individual mobility as
well as national development (Chiswick, 2008; Seargeant & Erling, 2011). This notion of English
for human capital has informed ELE policy in developing societies, creating the ‘English for
human capital development’ policy trend.
Although neoliberalism can be approached from different perspectives, the focus of this chapter
is related to what Ward and England (2007) called ‘neoliberalism as policy and programme’
(p. 12).This refers to the transformation taking place at the policy level according to market logic
in a globalised world. Our aim in this chapter is to understand “the context to which the policy is
a response, the logic underpinning the policy, the agencies and institutions involved in the doing
and evaluation of policy, and the intended audiences for the policy” (Ward & England, 2007,
p. 12). In our analysis, we do not draw a line between globalisation and neoliberalism, as we view
them as interconnected (see Hamid & Rahman, 2019). Globalisation has connected the world
and created the condition in which neoliberalism (free trade, deregulation, and privatisation)
has extended to different corners of the world by globalising agencies. This position helps us to
illustrate the emergence of the human capital orientation of ELE in Bangladesh and illuminate
the context, the logic, as well as the actors and agencies involved in human capital translation of
ELE in Bangladesh.

English for human capital development has emerged particularly in developing countries, which
are trying to pursue the United Nations’ (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
and, currently, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In development contexts, English is
considered a key tool for accessing the globalised network, economy, global business and employ-
ment, and science and technology (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014; Seargeant & Erling, 2011). Thus,
ELE is considered a form of investment in human capital (Rassool, 2013). The key purpose
of this investment is to produce skilled citizens who are able to integrate into the globalised
system and contribute to economic growth (Seargeant & Erling, 2011). This objective in educa-
tion is guided by the principles of HCT, which prioritise development of market-relevant skills
required to have currency in a neoliberal economy (Erling, 2017). Proponents of HCT argue
that human capital development is the key to individual and social development (Harber, 2014).
371
This perspective is becoming evident in the discourses of ELE policy in many societies (see, e.g.
Price, 2014). English is often presented as a panacea for poverty and an instrument for economic
growth in developing societies (Erling, 2017).
This instrumentalist policy trend in ELE has been manifested in polities across the world.
As a response to the linguistic demand posed by globalisation, many developing nations have
introduced English in their national curricula with the slogan ‘English for All’ (Hamid, 2010;
Price, 2014). The guiding principle behind this state sponsorship of ELE is the national goal of
human capital development to stay competitive in a knowledge-based economy. South Korea
provides an important example of how neoliberal understanding of English as a capital has
influenced the country’s ELE initiatives. The country has increased its investment in ELE as a
strategy to increase its human capital so as to support the national plan to become ‘the business
center of Northeast Asia’ (Shin, 2007, p. 78). The major argument that has supported Korea’s
increased investment in ELE is that of ‘competition’ in the global economic system (Shin, 2007).
Similarly, Malaysia has emphasised the importance of English in its Vision 2020 to become a hub
of business and education and a leader in knowledge economy in Asia (Hamid & Nguyen, 2016).
Taiwan has also recognised the role of English to develop human capital to decrease income gap
between different social groups. Taiwanese government’s recognition of ‘English-as-capital’ for
nation-building has resulted in the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) initiatives to intro-
duce ‘English for All’ (Price, 2014). Other Asian countries such as China (Wang, 2007),Vietnam
(Hamid & Nguyen, 2016), and Indonesia (Lamb & Coleman, 2008) have also emphasised the role
of English for national economic development. Lamb and Coleman (2008), for example, reveal
how Indonesians treat English as a capital and a language of opportunity and social mobility in
that access to higher education and employment is contingent upon their level of competence in
English. Barnawi (2018) has reported a similar ELE policy trend in the Middle Eastern countries
such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain. ELE policies in these countries
are being shaped by neoliberal ideologies due to the countries’ vision to move from an oil-based
economy to a more diversified employment-oriented market economy. Hence, in the context of
neoliberal globalisation, the policy trend of English for human capital development is becoming
increasingly visible across the globalising world.
English for human capital development and CLT

Developing countries across the world have adopted CLT to implement human capital-focused
ELE policies (e.g. Block, 2008; Hamid & Nguyen, 2016; Nunan, 2003). CLT as a pedagogical
approach emerged during the 1970s following Dell Hymes’s proposition of the theory of com-
municative competence defined as the ability to use the four skills of a language in meaningful social
contexts and ‘knowing when and how to say what to whom’ (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson,
2011, p. 115). Since its origin in the 1970s, CLT has become the ‘first truly global method’,
which has been globalised in response to the national and international demand stemming from
the new economic and work order under neoliberal globalisation (Block, 2008, p. 39). CLT’s
emphasis on teaching the four skills and developing learners’ communicative competence aligns
with the human capital development agenda. Table 24.1 conceptualises the relevance of the
principles and techniques of CLT to human capital development.
As can be seen from Table 24.1, CLT suggests an integrated approach to teaching language
skills. The techniques used within this approach can contribute to the development of learners’
hard and soft skills (human capital). These skills are relevant not only to interact with people
and maintain social relationships but also to be part of corporate economy across the globalising
world in which service sectors have taken an important role (Block, 2008; Block et al., 2012).
372
Table 24.1 CLT techniques and their relevance to human capital development (Adapted from
Block, 2008; Larsen-Freeman & Alderson, 2011; OECD, 2001)
Hard skills  CLT techniques  Soft skills
Reading Teaching all four language skills in an Intra-personal skills

Writing integrated manner and
Listening Using authentic materials and language Inter-personal skills
Speaking Presenting language in meaningful contexts Team work
Pair work Leadership
Group work Learning to make decisions
Information gap activity
Role plays
Problem-solving tasks
The spread of CLT in a globalised world is not apolitical (see, e.g. Block, 2008; Block et al., 2012).
Globalising agencies including WB, ADB, and DFID play a key role in promoting the discourses of
development and the CLT pedagogy in development contexts. These agencies work in collabor-
ation with transnational corporations to create an investment-friendly environment in developing
countries (Graddol, 1997; Holborow, 2012). An investment-friendly environment requires, among
other things, English-proficient individuals who are able to communicate globally and function
in the globalised economic system. CLT aims at developing learners’ linguistic human capital by
developing their hard and soft skills.This manifests in the principles and techniques of CLT which
encourage material writers and educators to replicate the real world of business and work.
English for human capital development in Bangladesh

English has a chequered history in post-colonial Bangladesh. The language had its roots in British
colonial rule (1757–1947) as a language of prestige and opportunity. The colonial legacy of the
English language was sustained in East Pakistan during the Pakistani rule (1947–1971). However,
following independence from West Pakistan in 1971, “Bangla was elevated to the highest status,
which was to serve as a language of higher education and the bureaucracy” (Hamid & Rahman,
2019, p. 385). Along with this promotion of Bangla on nationalistic consideration, ‘English literally
became a foreign language’ (Hamid & Rahman, 2019, p. 385). It is widely believed that the standard
of learning and teaching of English declined in the country as a consequence of the demotion of
English in favour of Bangla. Based on the reports produced by the education commissions formed
at different times, the arguments for introducing English at earlier grades became stronger over
the years (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014).While Bangla still dominated all public sectors, the import-
ance of English started to be acknowledged. English was introduced as a compulsory subject from
Grade 1 in 1992. However, introduction of English as an academic subject followed a traditional
curriculum. The pedagogical approach in this curriculum highlighted teaching discrete grammar
items, memorisation of vocabularies, and translation and literary pieces such as short stories and
poems written in English. Developing learners’ communication skills was not an explicit goal in
this pedagogy. The English curriculum was designed to instil moral values in learners and to help
them develop literacy skills in English so that they can appreciate literary pieces written in English.
However, the outcome of ELE was not satisfactory as grammar-translation oriented language edu-
cation could not develop students’ communication skills (Ali & Walker, 2014).
ELE in Bangladesh saw a landmark policy change during the mid-1990s. As a response to the
challenges posed by globalisation, Bangladesh implemented a massive shift towards neoliberal
373
policy during this time. In this context, the necessity of English-proficient citizens was recognised
by the government as well as donor agencies so that Bangladeshi citizens could participate in the
globalised economic system. This realisation of the need for developing citizens’ communica-
tion skills in English led the Bangladesh government to bring about a major policy shift in ELE.
The traditional grammar-translation based language teaching was replaced by a new language
teaching policy for communication skills development (Ali, 2010; Hamid & Baldauf, 2008). This
was clearly noted in the national curriculum document:
English should be recognised as an essential work-oriented skill that is needed if the

employment, development and educational needs of the country are to be met suc-
cessfully at a higher level. Increased communicative competence in English, therefore,
constitutes a vital skill for students at [secondary] and higher secondary stages.
(National curriculum, 1995, p. 135)
Thus, in the context of globalisation, the need for change in ELE policy was clearly articulated in
the 1990s along with changes in other public policies.The market logic started to be visible in ELE
policy as manifested in the curriculum through recognition of the English language as ‘an essential
work-oriented skill’. In other words, communication skills in English were recognised as human
capital which can be developed through investment in national education and which can con-
tribute to national development. To execute the new ELE policy for human capital development,
the Bangladesh government introduced CLT in secondary education through a project known as
English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) in order to develop learners’ commu-
nication skills in English. ELTIP (1997–2012) was jointly funded by the Bangladesh government
and the DFID. The project was jointly implemented by the British Council Bangladesh and the
Bangladesh Ministry of Education. Developing new textbooks and teacher’s guides were some of
the tangible outcomes of the project. What is noteworthy about the project is the collaboration
between the national (Ministry of Education) and global actors and agencies (DFID and British
Council) in executing the communicative competence-based ELE policy shift in Bangladesh. Such
concerted efforts can be seen as the influence of the globalisation during the 1990s, which led to the
reduction of the authority of nation-states in education policy formulation (Rizvi & Lingard, 2010).
It can be argued that during the 1990s, ELE in Bangladesh was characterised by a re-orientation
of the role of English. Market-led neoliberal influences were clear in the shift from English
as a subject for educational and moral development to English as an instrument for employ-
ment. CLT-based textbooks and teacher’s guide were designed to help students and teachers to
implement CLT pedagogy within secondary education. However, the implementation of CLT
presented a myriad of problems (see, e.g. Ali & Walker, 2014; Hamid & Baldauf, 2008). As a new
pedagogical approach, CLT received substantial resistance from both teachers and students in the
first place (Rahman & Pandian, 2018).The majority of English teachers did not have orientation
to CLT. Within its scope, ELTIP was unable to provide sufficient training for implementing the
pedagogical innovation (see Karim, Mohamed, Ismail & Rahman, 2018). The textbooks them-
selves were also problematic, as they focused more on reading and writing than on listening and
speaking skills (Ali, 2014). This problem was also noted in the design of the high-stakes school-
leaving public examinations, which were not clearly aligned with CLT. Even to date, listening
and speaking skills are not assessed in public examinations (see Ali, Hamid & Hardy, 2020).
In the midst of these pedagogical turmoils, another English language project was introduced
in Bangladesh, known as English in Action (EIA, 2009–2018), funded by UKaid. EIA was
implemented by a consortium of three international and two national partners, including
Cambridge Education (Lead), BBC Media Action, The Open University, United Kingdom,
374
Underprivileged Children’s Educational Programme, and Friends in Village Development

Bangladesh. While the neoliberal forces started to influence the Bangladeshi ELE during the
1990s, the influence became much stronger in the first decade of the twenty-first century as
illustrated by the involvement of international organisations and national NGOs in EIA imple-
mentation.The increasing involvement of private organisations is an indication of the weakening
control of the government over ELE policy issues in Bangladesh (see Hamid & Rahman, 2019).
EIA was informed by instrumental agenda and its principles were grounded in discourses
of economic development. For example, English was represented as a panacea for poverty and
a means for economic development. The project aimed at “help[ing] 25 million Bangladeshis
improve their English as a route into work and out of poverty” (EIA, n.d., para. 1). Chowdhury
and Kabir (2014) explained that EIA pursued economic goals as it aimed to develop English
language skills of Bangladeshi people ‘to enable them to engage in economic activities’ (p. 5).
EIA goals and priorities were guided by the principles of HCT, as proficiency in English lan-
guage was represented as human capital. Erling (2017, p. 391) stated that
English is commonly associated with high social, cultural and economic capital, and
English language skills are often positioned in language planning documents in low-
income contexts as a means of boosting the economy and increasing opportunities for
individuals.This perspective has contributed to the increasing prominence of English in
the national curricula of school systems across the world, as well as it being promoted
through projects such as EIA – in which development aid is used to expand or improve
English language education. This ideology aligns well with HCT approaches to pro-
viding resources of value in the globalised new economy.
EIA was also claimed to contribute to achieving the MDGs by developing Bangladeshi citizens’
communication skills in English. The project claimed that
With English rapidly becoming the global language of business, fluency in working
English can play a major role in helping people escape from poverty. Nearly 70 million
Bangladeshis survive on less than a dollar a day and a third of the urban population lives in
slums.The programme, English in Action, supports the internationally agreed Millennium
Development Goals, which are aimed at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
(EIA, n.d., para. 3)
Bangladesh agreed to implement MDGs and SDGs in order to achieve the globally set goals for
developing nations.Thus, the country has entered into a global governance system in education in
which nations are constantly compared in terms of their performance to meet the internationally
agreed goals. With English being associated with national development, dependency on global
agencies has become a reality in ELE in the country due to its lack of expertise and resources for
implementing CLT. Working in collaboration with the government of Bangladesh, EIA trained
English language teachers in selected primary and secondary schools across Bangladesh, designed
online materials and disseminated the materials through mobile phones, and developed and
telecasted a programme called Mojay Mojay Shekha (Learning with Fun). The purpose of the
materials and online programmes was to spread English in Bangladesh through mobile tech-
nology and electronic media. It was argued that EIA would develop communicative compe-
tence of the poorest Bangladeshi people so that they could “find jobs, engage in entrepreneurial
activities and improve their standard of living” (EIA, n.d., para. 3). Thus, EIA investment focused
mainly on the development of individuals by developing their linguistic capital in English. This
375
approach aligns well with HCT, which emphasises the development of individuals’ knowledge
and skills for economic development.
Secondary education reform for human capital development

Global policy discourses of development in education as manifested in the policy documents
of the externally funded projects have also influenced education policies at the national level.
For example, the latest education policy of Bangladesh has declared that an important goal of
secondary education is “to develop a learner with competencies so that s/he can compete in
the job market, especially in the economic sector of the country” (Ministry of Education, 2010,
p. 13). This goal marks a change in the educational paradigm in the country – while not many
years ago education was considered as a means of social and moral development, not explicitly
associated with economic growth, the impact of globalisation and the country’s current strategy
for accelerating economic growth have integrated education with the discourses of develop-
ment. In terms of ELE, the country’s education policy recognised English “as [an] essential tool
to building knowledge based society” (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014, p. 10). The education policy
considers English as a key tool for Bangladeshi citizens to have access to the globalised economy.
In pursuing this market-oriented goal in education, Bangladesh has been working in col-
laboration with donor agencies such as the WB, ADB, and DFID since the 1990s (Asian
Development Bank, 2015). Of note is the recent curriculum reform to be achieved through
a project called Secondary Education Sector Development Project (SESDP). Jointly funded
by Asian Development Bank (85 million USD) and the Bangladesh government (28 million
USD), SESDP (2007–2013) worked towards making the secondary curricula relevant to the
employment market and enhancing the quality of education by training teachers and reforming
the examination system. This reform was introduced while the country’s economic sector was
undergoing significant transformation. As mentioned in ‘Introduction’ section, due to the inte-
gration of Bangladesh’s economy into the global economy, the country has experienced sustained
GDP growth. This has been possible because of the increased business and trade and economic
migration in the context of globalisation. In keeping with the changes in the economic sector
of the country, public policies have emphasised the importance of skilled human resources for
the country’s sustainable development. This is how changing the goal of education was justified.
The secondary education reform aimed at “revising the curriculum to make it more relevant to
21st century workplace skills” (Asian Development Bank, 2015, p. iii). SESDP produced subject-
wise curricula, which prioritised human capital development. The Chairman of the National
Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) explained why reforming the curricula was necessary:
Skilled human resources are preconditions to fulfil the pledges of change and turning
the country to a middle income one. From the realization that only quality education
can produce skilled human resources, the Government adopts the epoch-making and
commonly accepted Education Policy 2010. The most important measure to imple-
ment this education policy is to bring about qualitative changes in education in line
with the education policy. This is why, National Curriculum and Textbook Board
(NCTB) initiates developing the new national curriculum.
(National Curriculum, 2012a, p. i)
To a large extent, the new curricula were informed by the discourses of development (see,
e.g. National Curriculum, 2012a). Development discourses in global education policies and
the policy discourses of international projects such as EIA have started to be accommodated
376
in national-level policies. This can be explained as the effect of continuing globalising process
of Bangladeshi education. Funding bodies have played an important role in shifting the goal of
education to human capital development. These funding bodies have their own agenda, which
prioritise human capital development to support the neoliberal market in a globalising world
(Spring, 2015). At the same time, development is now a key theme, which pervades public policies
and political agenda in Bangladesh. This has influenced education including ELE. Discourses of
national development and economic growth have become much stronger in the new curricula.
Communication skills in English are considered critical for the country’s vision to gain the status
of a middle-income country by 2021.
The curricula recognised English language skills as the necessary skill-sets required for indi-
vidual mobility and economic growth. As mentioned above, the logic of development underpins
the curricula, which emphasise human capital development in ELE by teaching all four skills of
reading, writing, listening, and speaking through CLT. The main objectives of the current ELE
initiatives can be understood from the following extract in the national curriculum document:
The curriculum focuses on teaching-learning English as a skill-based subject so that

learners can use English in their real-life situations by acquiring necessary language skills
as well as knowledge, learning about cultures and values, developing positive attitudes,
pursuing higher education and having better access to local and global employment.
(National Curriculum, 2012b, p. 2)
Human capital development in ELE has been institutionalised in the current Bangladeshi edu-
cation policies by referring to the logic of competition. It is argued that communication skills
in English are important for the new generation to compete at local as well as global contexts
of the globalised economic system. The logic of competition in ELE is visible at the national
level policy. It is argued that “to help prepare the country’s younger generation for the com-
petitive globalised world of the 21st century, this curriculum for secondary English has been
developed” (National Curriculum, 2012b, p. 73). Competition is at the heart of neoliberalism,
which considers language skills as a commodity (Block et al., 2012). The importance of English
for surviving in a knowledge-based society has also been reported in the Bangladeshi media
(see Naik, 2018; Zamir, 2009). Naik (2018, n. p.) argued that “after all, English is the currency
through which knowledge is traded these days. Good English will directly link Bangladeshis with
the world of knowledge enabling youngsters to imbibe and contribute to society”.
Following the new curricula, official textbooks for secondary education were revised by NCTB
in 2015. The revised textbooks, called ‘English for Today’ series, came “with a new focus on com-
municative language teaching incorporating tasks and activities providing opportunities for lan-
guage skills practice in order to develop communicative competence” (Rahman, 2015, p. 88). It
is claimed that “the main aim of the textbook is to provide ample opportunities for students to
use English for a variety of purposes in interesting situations” (Billah et al., 2015, p. iii). Rahman,
Pandian, and Kaur (2018) argue that the revised textbooks are more comprehensive than the old
ones in that the former focus on the four language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking,
together with cultural elements needed for developing learners’ real-life communication skills.
Higher education reform for human capital development

Higher education sector in Bangladesh has also been restructured through a Bangladesh–World
Bank jointly funded project called Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project (HEQEP).
HEQEP is a 91.50 million USD project which was commenced in 2009 and ended in 2018.
377
Underpinned by the principles of HCT, this project emphasised the need for skill-based educa-
tion at the tertiary level for human capital development. Accordingly, outcome-based education
was suggested to make higher education relevant to the globalised market. This led Bangladeshi
universities to revise their curricula by focusing on skills and learning outcomes. In line with the
changing paradigm in the higher education sector, ELE at the tertiary level is also experiencing a
shift from its earlier grammar-translation–based language teaching to a competence-based peda-
gogy for developing learners’ linguistic capital. For example, BRAC University has a residential
campus in Savar where all undergraduate students need to spend one semester learning the
English language and other soft skills required for success in higher education and post-education
competitive employment market. This initiative is an example of how higher education in the
private sector is fast responding to the neoliberal market in a globalised world. As in the secondary
education, global agencies, notably the WB, are playing an important role in the transition.
A human capital focus of ELE can also be associated with the medium of instruction policy in
higher education. Over two-thirds of all universities in Bangladesh and all in the private sector
have adopted English as a medium of instruction (EMI) (Naik, 2018). For the private sector
higher education, EMI was a response to the globalisation of higher education. Under the influ-
ence of neoliberalism, higher education has been significantly expanded in the private sector
with EMI (Hamid & Rahman, 2019). Using EMI, these universities try to align higher education
with the globalised employment market in which English has been commodified (Anwaruddin,
2013). Thus, higher education is ‘driven by the open market economy’ (Hamid & Baldauf, 2014
as cited in Hamid & Rahman, 2019, p.390), which is characterised by competition between
people at the micro level and between institutions, and between countries at the macro level.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we have argued that English for human capital development has emerged as an
ELE policy trend in developing societies in the context of globalisation. Within the scope of
this volume, we have focused on this trend in Bangladesh, where English has been associated
with individual mobility and social development both by national policy makers and by donor
agencies. We have demonstrated that the policy trend has developed based on the principles of
HCT, which rationalises investment in education for developing learners’ skills and competency
as a route to poverty alleviation and economic development (see also Rassool, 2013). Hence,
instrumental potentials of the English language are at the heart of the trend. It is argued that
investment in English will develop human capital and help Bangladeshi “people gain resources to
lift themselves out of poverty and increase their ability to participate in world economic systems
from which they have previously been excluded” (Seargeant & Erling, 2011, pp. 3–4).
Our critical examination of the documents has suggested that globalisation and neoliberalism
have paved the way for the emergence of the human capital–focused ELE policy trend in
Bangladesh. Following the country’s integration with the global economy in the 1990s, the need
for English-proficient citizens was recognised. This led Bangladesh government to introduce
CLT pedagogy for human capital development, introducing a new paradigm in the country’s
ELE policy. English was recognised as a work-oriented skill in the 1995 national curriculum
for English. Our analysis revealed that development of citizens’ communicative competence in
English is considered critical for the country’s access to the globalised market and for a competi-
tive edge in the neoliberal economy. English is presented as a panacea for poverty and a tool for
accessing the globalised economy (see also Zamir, 2009).
Globalisation seems to have diminished the power of the national policy makers and increased
the influence of donor agencies (see, e.g. Hamid & Rahman, 2019).We have argued that neoliberal
378
market forces became much stronger in Bangladesh during the first decade of the twenty-first
century, which resulted in more global participation in the country’s ELE policy initiatives.
The donor agencies prioritised human capital framing of language education in Bangladesh as
manifested in the policy documents of EIA. For example, EIA investment was considered an
important means of human capital development so that Bangladeshi people could engage in
economic activities. Development discourses in ELE brought by global agencies such as DFID
became institutionalised in the country’s ELE policy as demonstrated by the 2012 national
curriculum for English, which was revised through a Bangladesh-ADB partnership project to
reshape the curriculum in line with the changes in the economic sector. Currently, human cap-
ital development in ELE is a national policy initiative, which is being implemented through CLT
pedagogy across primary and secondary education.
We would argue that Bangladesh makes an interesting case for understanding how human capital
development in ELE has become a policy priority, and what roles national policy makers as well as
donor agencies have played in shaping this policy trend under neoliberal globalisation.With global-
isation of the neoliberal work order, skills and communicative competence have been emphasised as
valued human capital.We have argued that this has been achieved by shifting focus on development
in which individuals have been placed at the centre. We would invite in-depth studies to examine
the material and social implications of the human capital trend in ELE in developing societies.
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25
BELF COMPETENCE
FOR PROFESSIONAL
COMMUNICATION IN THE
READY-MADE GARMENTS
INDUSTRY IN BANGLADESH
M. Moninoor Roshid
Introduction
Against the backdrop of globalisation and trade liberalisation, the ready-made garments (RMG)
business in Bangladesh has turned into a huge industry in the global business market where business
communication is incalculably dominated by the hegemonic power of English. Arguably, English
has become a well-recognised ‘business lingua franca’ (Ehrenreich, 2010; Evans, 2013; Kankaanranta
& Lu, 2013). When we talk about ‘English as a lingua franca’ (ELF), it is used as a ‘default means
of communication’ (House, 2012, p. 173) among the speakers of English regardless of their mother
tongue. Underpinned by the notion of ELF (Jenkins, 2007; Seidlhofer, 2005), ‘English as a business
lingua franca’ (EBLF) (Ehrenreich, 2010; Kankaanranta & Lu, 2013), or ‘Business English as a lingua
franca’ (BELF) (Evans, 2016; Kankaanranta & Louhiala-Salminen, 2010; Nickerson & Crawford
Camiciottoli, 2013) is a well-established tag name in present time in international business commu-
nication. BELF is the shared language facility used in global business for professional communication
(Ehrenreich, 2010). Similar to ELF, in BELF as well, the vocabulary, structures, and discourse practices
of English serve as the ‘lingua franca core’ (Jenkins, 2000), “a set of features that enable ELF speakers
to communicate successfully with other ELF speakers” (Deterding & Mohamad, 2016, p. 62). It is
well argued that when English is used as a BELF, it is necessary for the business professionals to be
concerned about ‘BELF global communicative competence’ (Louhiala-Salminen & Kankaanranta,
2011) that focuses on how to deal with business, how to carry on professional practice, and how to
make communication effective, despite linguistic and socio-cultural differences (Cogo, 2016).
In this changing global economy, while lingua-cultural background and identity of business
professionals are quite diverse, what communicative competence the business professional need
to have has become a crucial issue. More specifically, the overarching question is what linguistic
competence including the phonological, lexical, grammatical ability do business professional
need to have for effective communication? Is it necessary to have native speaker-like competence
in terms of lexis, grammar, and pronunciation for effective communication in English? Or is it
the intelligibility that comes into play while considering effective communication? Questions
may also rise as to what vocabulary they need to have for communication – Is it general English
vocabulary or is it business specific vocabulary or both?
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BELF competence
A handful number of BELF research have been conducted, mostly in European contexts, over the
last one and a half decades to explore the nature and components of English communicative compe-
tence in international business contexts (e.g. Louhiala-Salminen & Kankaanranta, 2011; Pullin, 2010).
Relatively little attention has been given on exploring the English linguistic competence needed
for doing international business in ELF contexts where speakers of English from Kachru’s three
concentric circles interact together. Hence, adopting a qualitative research approach along with a
theoretical framework underpinned by ‘BELF’, this research explores the linguistic competence and
its discursive forms needed for effective communication in RMG international business.
BELF communicative competence

‘Competence’ is a ‘buzz’ but a slippery term in global communication process. The concept ‘com-
petence’ was first introduced by Chomsky (1965) in the 1960s to explain language acquisition
and communication among native speakers. Since then the term has been used in various fields of
linguistics. Though the term initially originated to describe the knowledge of mother tongue of a
speaker that enables him/her to speak fluently, later other concepts were adapted to describe the
aims and objectives of second and foreign language teaching and learning (Byram, 1997). Chomsky’s
view of knowing a language is reflected in his perceived distinction between linguistic compe-
tence and linguistic performance. Linguistic competence is the ability to use a language appropri-
ately (Chen & Starosta, 2008). Chomsky’s linguistic competence focuses on knowing the grammar
of a language. Campbell and Wales (1970) point out that the terms (competence and performance)
used by Chomsky have both a weak sense and a strong sense. In the former, while competence
is the speaker-hearer’s knowledge of his language, performance is the actual use of language in
concrete situations (Chomsky, 1965, p. 4). Later, Chomsky’s competence refers to the linguistic
system and focuses on knowing the rules of grammar of a language. According to Hymes (1972),
competence depends upon both (tacit) knowledge and (ability for) use. Munby (1978) proposed
three major constituents and their parts as a model of ‘Communicative Competence’ (CC): ‘socio-
cultural orientation’, ‘sociosemantic basis of linguistic knowledge’, and ‘discourse level of oper-
ation’. Canale and Swain (1980), and later in a slightly modified form by Canale (1983), outline
four major components of CC: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence,
and strategic competence. Due to globalisation, communication has become intercultural and/or
cross-cultural. Therefore, some scholars suggest developing intercultural communication compe-
tence (e.g. Byram, 1997) rather than developing communicative competence only.
As BELF communication is intrinsically intercultural with a wide range of settings and with diverse
constellations of interlocutors (Pullin, 2015), the use of appropriate communicative competence is
seen as a complex phenomenon. Several scholars (e.g. Ehrenreich, 2010; Gerritsen & Nickerson, 2009;
Kankaanranta & Louhiala-Salminen, 2007, 2010, 2013; Kankaanranta & Planken, 2010; Pullin, 2010)
have paid attention to communicative needs in international business settings and focused on BELF
discourse and competence. Research show that one of the vital features of BELF discourse is hybridity,
that is, language is influenced by English and speakers’ mother tongue (Kankaanranta, 2006). According
to Jenkins (2015), ELF as hybrid language is characterised by fluidity and negotiation of meaning among
interlocutors with varied ‘multilingual repertoires’ (p. 59).That is why English is ‘owned’ by nobody – and
everybody (Louhiala-Salminen, 2012). In describing the nature of BELF discourse, Louhiala-Salminen
and Kankaanranta (2012) argue that the nature of BELF discourse is extremely context dependent.Yet,
it has three features in common: (1) it voids complicated structures that refers to ‘simplified English’ that
does not contain complicated phraseology, idiomatic expressions, or complex sentence structures. Here
grammatical correctness is considered as secondary and it is less important than specialised vocabulary.
(2) It is highly specialised in terms of vocabulary and genres of one’s specific field of expertise.Without
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M. Moninoor Roshid
having such professional vocabulary and genre-specific practices everyday work could not be done, and
(3) it reflects mother tongue discourse practices that reflect hybridity of ELF as mentioned earlier.
While describing BELF discourse, Kankaanranta and Planken (2010) emphasise (a) direct-
ness and clarity rather than grammatical accuracy, (b) the use of business specific vocabulary and
genres rather than just general English, and (c) expressions relating to building business rapport
and relationship rather than merely explaining factual content of the message. In addition, they
focused on communication know-how as an integral part of successful business communication.
In exploring the everyday BELF communication at work and contextual features in communi-
cation, in particular, communication partners (e.g. Native Speakers of English (NSE), Non-native
Native Speakers of English (NNSE)), communication practices (e.g. use of different media, other
language/s), and characteristics of the needed English language competence at work (e.g. pronun-
ciation, grammar), Kankaanranta, and Louhiala-Salminen (2010) reveal through survey and inter-
view that in today’s global business context English is ‘simply work’ and the use of English is highly
contextual. If business personnel have contextual knowledge of business, business specific genre and
business communication strategies can be used interchangeably with proficiency in English.
Louhiala-Salminen (2012) argued that in a professional communication three languages are
usually used at workplace: English, native language, and other. Native language is used more than
English. Communication happens with both native English speakers and non-native English
speakers. However, more interaction happens among non-native English speakers. The author
further shows three components of BELF competence in terms of priority in communication:
(a) business specific discourse; (b) wide general vocabulary; and (c) grammatical correctness.
Figure 25.1 Model of global communicative competence in business context (Louhiala-Salminen &
Kankaanranta, 2011)
384
BELF competence
Likewise, three success factors are considered in BELF communication: (a) getting the facts/
content right; (b) getting the tone/‘politeness’ right, and (c) getting the discourse right, clear, and
brief. Grounder on the above BELF discourse features and competence, Louhiala-Salminen and
Kankaanranta (2011) have developed a model of global communicative competence in business
context that consists of three layers (see Figure 25.1): (a) multicultural competence that refers to
managing communicative situations with representatives of different national, organisational, and
professional cultures. It includes tolerance towards ‘different ways of doing things’, accommo-
dation skills, knowledge of foreign languages, that is, multilingual competence; (b) competence
in BELF that refers to knowledge of English ‘core’ and business-specific multimodal genres, and
(c) the communicator’s business know-how, that is, knowledge and skills in business communica-
tion strategies, e.g. the ‘success factors’ (clarity, brevity, directness, and ‘politeness’).
Grounded on the above literature, this study aims to explore the BELF competence required
in the RMG global business setting located in Bangladesh with specific focus on the forms and
nature of linguistic competence, including the lexis, grammar, pronunciation, and even fluency
needed for global business.
Methodology of the study

This study has been conducted adopting a qualitative approach where focus has been given
on in-depth understanding of the communicative competence required by BELF professionals
in a global business setting. Data have been collected through in-depth interviews from three
cohorts of RMG professionals worked at different levels of the RMG industry.These three types
of professionals are categorised as ‘marketing’, ‘merchandising’, and ‘commercial’ professionals.
Samples were selected through following convenient sampling technique. A total of 43 RMG
professionals from 29 RMG industries in different categories in terms of size (large, medium,
and small industries) and product-type (knit, woven, and sweater industries) were face-to-face
interviewed. All industries were located in Dhaka, Narayangong, and Gazipur. These indus-
tries manufacture garments goods in Bangladesh and export these to different countries in the
world. These professionals play different roles in their workplaces (see Figure 25.2). Though
Figure 25.2 The basic roles of different RMG personnel
385
M. Moninoor Roshid
they were involved in regular interactions and communication in English with international
buyers and suppliers in the RMG business, the nature of communication and their involvement
were different, which necessitate the relative need for English communication skills. Data were
analysed and compared from the views of these three groups of RMG personnel.
The language of interview was both Bangla and English as participants’ preference. It has been
found that some of the participants felt comfortable in giving interview in English, while the
rest preferred it in Bangla. All data were digitally recorded and later thematically transcribed and
translated into English. All data were coded using NVIVO 9 after close reading line by line. The
process of coding was ‘data driven’ rather than ‘theory driven’ (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Then,
sub-themes were developed from the codes. Afterwards, from the sub-themes, key major themes
have been developed keeping alignment with the key research questions. Before collecting data
rapport was developed with the participants and assurance of confidentiality was given to them
that was maintained strictly.

This section discusses specific English linguistic competence that RMG professionals perceive as
essential components of communication for effective interactions in the RMG global business.
Fluency
In the current study, fluency is the most frequently reported skill that nearly all participants,
regardless of the type of work role undertaken by the three groups of the RMG professionals
perceived to be necessary for oral communication. To demonstrate their preferences fluency
in speaking, participants used different, empathetic words (i.e. ‘must’, ‘must be’, ‘should have’,
‘have to have’, ‘should be’, and ‘have to be’). For instance, a marketing person who was an
owner of a RMG business, expressed his strong opinion about the need for fluency in speaking
in RMG business communication commenting, ‘Yes, they must have fluency’. The bulk of pre-
vious literature on language learning also stresses the importance of fluency and considers it as
an essential skill in communication (see, Ciortescu, 2012). Beamer (1992) considers fluency
as invaluable. It provides extra motivation to gain competitive advantage in an international
business sense (Hurn, 2009).
In explaining the need for fluency, participants further showed different reasons, that is, flu-
ency is supportive for customer dealings, expressing ideas, and intelligibility of speakers’ voice.
Moreover, fluency is also helpful for comfortable communication, and direct communication
with customers. It is an indicator of the level of proficiency that plays an invaluable role in
developing a career path. Two marketing professionals observed that fluency was instrumental
in business negotiations and it positively mobilised business discussions. To them, convincing
buyers required fluency, and they indicated that a high level of fluency increased the high level
of confidence of speakers to manage their customers, and accordingly manifested in negotiations
and persuasion. Similar result was found in previous study where fluency is needed in business
negotiation. Describing a framework for cross-cultural understanding in a business setting in
China, Osland (1990) argued that fluency in corporate language is required in negotiations.
Simultaneously, playing a role in dealing with customers, particularly in negotiations and
persuasion, fluency was perceived as a support tool to express ideas that personnel had. Like
marketing professionals, merchandising and commercial professionals also explained the need
for fluency from the point of business communication. They argued that fluency was good for
‘easy understanding’ in conversation where they indicate if a speaker is fluent, it helps his/her
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interlocutors to understand the message easily and clearly, without any interruption. Moreover,
it ensures that it is ‘comfortable’ to continue conversations between interlocutors. Previous
research also shows a relationship between fluency and intelligibility (see Pickett & Pollack,
1963). However, regarding the possible drawbacks of lack of a ‘complete level’ of fluency, it was
revealed that lack of fluency worked as a barrier to express a message ‘spontaneously’ and ‘com-
fortably’. Previous studies also show the negative influence of lack of fluency. As Babcock and
Du-Babcock (2001) state, “…lower proficiency speakers use avoidance strategies to face issues
as well as a lack of fluency” (p. 378). Accordingly, the lack of fluency was seen in this study as an
obstacle to communicate in the RMG international business setting.
The notion of having a good or complete level of fluency, nonetheless, was challenged by two
highly experienced commercial personnel, who observed that it was not necessary to be fluent in
English. Instead, they discussed the level of fluency as being enough ‘to get the job done’ – nei-
ther high nor low. They in fact, suggested having a working level of fluency that is intelligible to
interlocutors. This finding is supported by BELF previous research where it is demonstrated that
in international business communication, the main focus is to ‘get the job done’ (Kankaanranta &
Planken, 2010, p. 205) rather than to be highly proficient (fluent) in English. Here, to get the job
done means to negotiate deals, manage orders, contact people, and so on. If RMG personnel are
able to do their assigned jobs successfully, it is not a big deal what level of proficiency they have.
However, the level of fluency required to communicate in the RMG business largely depends
on staff engagement, their job responsibilities, and the fluency level of interlocutor. Professionals
who are directly involved in oral communication with foreigners (e.g. merchandiser) need to
have good level of fluency, while professionals who are not engaged in direct oral communica-
tion (e.g. commercial) may not have good level of fluency. A commercial manager noted, “I have
been working in this organization [name of the organization] for a long time; I did not talk to
any buyers yet”. Likewise, if an interlocutor’s fluency level is high or she/he has a native-like
performance in English, it is necessary to talk to interlocutors with a high level of fluency as
perceived by some RMG professionals.
The analysis of the data raised another question: at what stage or level of career is fluency
required? It was found that some participants believed that fluency was not necessary at the
beginning of a profession in the RMG sector, whereas others considered fluency to be important
at every phase along the way. A senior commercial manager at mid-level career with more than
six years’ experience argued that “…fluency is important at later periods, not at the beginning
of career”. The reason for such thinking may have several explanations. A possible interpret-
ation could be, the beginning of a professional’s career in the RMG business is considered as
the training period. When a graduate comes to this sector, she/he does not come with much
knowledge and skills about the communication mechanism applied in this sector. Accordingly,
there is no communication with customers at the outset. Instead, through workplace learning or
training in the RMG setting under supervision of a senior person (see Roshid & Webb, 2013),
she/he learns how to communicate through participating in a community of practice (Wenger,
1998). It is mostly informal learning in nature (Slotte & Tynjälä, 2003). When learning through
social practice is assumed by the RMG professional who has gained competencies about how to
communicate with customers or suppliers, they can then engage more extensively in BELF com-
munication. Thus, Shariar might consider that fluency is not necessary at the beginning phase of
one’s employment in this industry.
Conversely, a senior merchandiser at the same level, with similar working experience in a
sweater industry, appreciated fluency at every level of RMG profession. He said, “Fluency …
is appreciable at every level” (Mosharraf). He explained that now this business is very com-
petitive and everybody is engaged in communication, irrespective of his/her position or role.
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M. Moninoor Roshid
If everybody has fluency in English, it is helpful for communication in the business. Moreover,
sometimes, in the absence of a key person, anybody who has fluency in English can manage
the work on standby. Therefore, it is good for the industry to make every professional com-
municatively competent with the required level of fluency which helps the industry to fill the
stopgap on the one hand; the fluent person can be employed in different positions and situ-
ations in the workplace on the other hand. This finding shows that if fluency is extended to
all employees regardless of their roles in the business industry, the language as a power factor
will be enforced. This finding is in line with previous research; for instance, Binder (2003)
who strongly stresses the importance of everyone having fluency regardless of personal and
professional endeavours.
Grammatical knowledge and skills

In communication, grammar – “the knowledge of how words are adapted and arranged to
form [a] sentence” (Widdowson, 1990, p. 82) – is generally seen as a vital factor. Scholars of
language learning and teaching (e.g. Batstone, 1994; Celce-Murcia, 1991; Kress, 2010; Nunan,
1991) believe that in order to provide solid background of a language, grammar cannot be
avoided. For instance, Batstone (1994) considers that language without grammar is handi-
capped and chaotic and there are serious barriers to effective communication. He observes
grammatical knowledge and concept is a must for successful communication. In the current
study, a number of participants expressed their views for and against the need for grammatical
skill in oral communication in the RMG corporate setting. This section outlines the different
arguments among participants about the importance of grammatical skills in oral communi-
cation in the RMG sector. An additional issue that emerged from the participants’ discussions
is – which one is more important in the RMG industry: grammatical accuracy or mutual
intelligibility?
As revealed in the findings, participants did not come to an agreement regarding the (a) need
for grammatical accuracy and (b) what importance should be given on intelligibility and gram-
matical accuracy to make a balance. Irrespective of the three groups of RMG professionals, more
than one-third explicitly talked about the priority of grammatical skills in speaking. Several
participants perceived that grammatical skill in oral communication was important and it was
required in the RMG business communication, as stated, “RMG personnel should have a good
knowledge of grammar”; however, quite a few participants challenged this opinion arguing that
they did not have to be grammatically correct in oral communication. In the above of these
two contrasting groups, there was the presence of the participants from the three cohorts of
professionals. Although there was also a minor group of respondents consisting of two mer-
chandising personnel who claimed that grammatical accuracy was less important and was not
essential in RMG business communication; but they did not ignore its significance completely
either. As one noted, ‘I put less emphasis on grammar’. This finding suggests that regarding the
necessity of grammar in oral communication in the RMG industry, participants were divided
in their opinions, such as grammar is ‘important’, ‘not important’, or ‘less important’, and these
perceptions are relatively incompatible.
A number of different reasons were put forward for why grammatical accuracy is important
which include the following: it facilitates easy communication; it provides customers and
suppliers with comfortable feelings in communication; and it avoids confusion in getting
the correct message across. For instance, one of the marketing personnel suggested speaking
with ‘correct English’ (grammatical correctness in English) as much as one can, because he
considered correct English helped customers to feel comfortable in communication, which
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makes the process of communication easier. In addition, he believed that correct English could
play an influential role in business negotiations to convince potential buyers. It is like the role
of fluency in business communication and negotiation as discussed earlier.
While grammar is a broad and vast area of language, a merchandising person (Ajgor)
highlighted the particular importance of tenses. He deemed that people might consider
tense as a ‘silly aspect’, but he speculated that if a person was unable to speak English using
the proper tense, it might cause ‘confusion’ to a business counterpart. Giving an example, he said
there was a difference between ‘goods were delivered’ and ‘goods will be delivered’. The same
participant also further emphasised the importance of the use of verbs to communicate with
customers. He described indicating merchandisers specifically, knowing English was not enough.
RMG professionals also needed to know the correct use of English, particularly “uses of verbs
… to communicate with customers. Otherwise it is very difficult”. Indeed, he stressed the need
for the appropriate use of English in the actual business context rather than theoretical know-
ledge. Previous research also suggest that the knowledge of a language and the ability to use this
knowledge in context are seen as two distinct aspects of communicative competence, but both
are intertwined in practice (Louhiala-Salminen & Kankaanranta, 2011; Peterwagner, 2005).
Albeit a number of participants believed in the prominence of grammatical accuracy in the
RMG business communication, an equal number from the three groups of RMG professionals
did not consider grammatical correctness as an important skill in oral communication in inter-
national business interaction. Their main reason for not judging grammar as a leading skill in
oral communication is without grammatical precision people can understand a given message
in context. Also, in oral communication in a foreign language, it is rather difficult to follow
grammatical accuracy always, even using grammar in a mother tongue. In this circumstance, they
claimed grammatical mistakes in speaking communication could be ignored. A marketing person
with an English literature background in higher education challenged the need for grammar
from another point of view. He argued that the main focus of this industry was its products and
technical aspects. Therefore, the skill he perceived important here was the “ability to talk about
the product and its technical issues… not accuracy”.
Besides giving priority to technical aspects of communication over grammatical accuracy, sev-
eral participants prioritised intelligibility over grammatical perfection for different reasons. In this
regard, the opinions of two participants are worth noting:
Grammatical correctness is not essential for us. But mutual understanding is very
important. … if I want to be grammatically correct then I might not be able to move
forward in this sector, so I have to leave behind that grammar and focus on intelligi-
bility. (Shamim, a merchandiser)
And another fact is that we do not emphasise the use of correct parts of speech,
tense and etc. – that is grammatical purification. To understand and to make someone
understand is the main thing.
(Arif, a marketing person)
This finding is further supported by a commercial participant (Hasnat), with more than 16 years
of experience, who expressed his concern about knowledge of English with Chinese and Korean
counterparts and stressed intelligibility. As he observed:
Korean or Chinese buyers don’t understand English very well. So it is not necessary
for us to be grammatically accurate with them. If we can make them understand, that
will be enough.
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M. Moninoor Roshid
While the RMG participants were divided into two blocks in their opinions for and against gram-
matical accuracy in the RMG business communication, the analysis of this study demonstrates
the emergence of the third group of people as noted above. This small group consisted of two
merchandising personnel, who neither accepted grammar as an important skill nor refuted its
significance. To explain the status of grammar, it is worthwhile noting a comment from a young
merchandiser, who said: “The grammatical aspect is important but less important. But it’s ok if
buyers understand” (Mredul).
To conclude this section, it can be said that the perceptions of participants about the role and
status of grammar in RMG business communication is diverse rather than unanimous.There is no
clear-cut choice between accuracy and intelligibility. Often it has been observed that participants
had to choose one over the other, depending on their respective situations. Moreover, the analysis
in this study suggests that the majority of RMG personnel argued that intelligibility of a message
should be prioritised over grammatical accuracy; in other words, communication of a message is
more important than accuracy.
Previous study by Kankaanranta and Planken (2010) claimed that in oral communication in an
ELF business setting, grammatical inaccuracies are typically ignored or ‘passed over’. Clarity is more
important than correctness. As English is a foreign language to Bangladeshi RMG professionals,
who are involved in international business communication with both native and non-native
speakers of English as discussed above, it is not always possible for them to speak to clients with
proper grammatical accuracy. However, they tried to make their spoken communication error free
grammatically. If it is not 100% error free, the message can still be intelligible in context, because
both parties are familiar with the context and understand each other. This effort helps them to
overcome the challenges related to grammatical skills in their spoken communication.
Vocabulary and technical terms

As seen in BELF research, in an international business, having a wide vocabulary of English
words and knowing business-specific English vocabulary in spoken communication are seen as
possible features for success (Louhiala-Salminen & Kankaanranta, 2011). This section describes
how participants perceived the urgency of general and business specific vocabulary, technical
terms and acronyms, and how these types of words play a role in RMG business communica-
tion. The findings have been presented here under two sub-themes: (1) general vocabulary and
(2) business-specific vocabulary that emerged from data analysis associated with such words
and vocabulary.
General vocabulary
General vocabulary is usually used in daily communication and is seen as necessary in RMG
business communication. Regardless of type and size of industry, and level and category of work,
more than one-quarter of total participants intensely felt the need of vocabulary for oral commu-
nication in the RMG sector. They called for ‘lots of vocabulary’, ‘enough stock of words’, ‘alter-
native words’, and ‘conventional words to work’. Through the phrase ‘conventional words’, the
participant might suggest knowing frequently used current words. As seen in previous research, in
describing a pedagogical framework for ELF speakers, Qiufang (2012) suggested teaching high-
frequency words to ELF speakers for communication. How does a store of lexis play a role in
effective communication? Dulal, a marketing person, experienced in the RMG business, was also
involved in staff recruitment. He contended that if professionals had their ‘own stock of words’,
this would be helpful in communication when they forget the appropriate words.
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BELF competence
The notion of this participant indicates that lack of necessary vocabulary becomes a barrier
in communication, and accordingly a professional should have a stock of required vocabulary.
For him, there is no way to keep quiet during communication. This finding is consistent with
other previous research. In a study investigating the use of English as a lingua franca in inter-
national business meetings, particularly in a European business organisation, Rogerson-Revell
(2007) shows that limitation of knowledge of a wide vocabulary plus difficulty in finding the
right words at the right time are seen as particular difficulties for NNSE communicating in inter-
national business meetings. Sometimes, a limited vocabulary does not prevent communication,
but it reduces efficacy in communication. In addition, not finding adequate words for immediate
reaction in a discussion can lead to silence on the part of an interlocutor. This finding is con-
sistent with previous research, where having knowledge of a broad general vocabulary is seen as
a great competence in successful business communication. Louhiala-Salminen and Kankaanranta
(2011) contend that professionals in a global business context require adequate vocabulary that
empowers communication between interlocutors without considerable effort from both parties.
Technical terms
In interview, participants consistently stressed the importance of knowing trade-specific English
vocabulary as well as with knowing conventional English words and synonyms. Some participants
called these technical terms “garments’ language” which is essentially needed for communica-
tion in this industry. The labelling of new types of English in international business is not new.
Aiming to provide a restricted range of vocabulary and language structures without loss of accuracy,
30 years ago Ericsson, Swedish telecommunications titan, created its own version of English to be
used worldwide, denoted to as ‘Ericsson English’ (Hollqvist, 1984, p. 93, cited in Rogerson-Revell,
2007, p. 109). Following analysis of the participants in this study, the term ‘garments speak’ has been
coined to indicate the words and language used in the RMG business communication. Several
participants, regardless of their roles in the industry, discussed how ‘garments speak’ plays a sig-
nificant role in communication. They suggested that ‘garments speak’ is reasonably powerful tools
in communication. If a person is less fluent, even not well educated, they may still be able to handle
communication activities using ‘garments speak’. ‘Garments speak’ was perceived more important
than fluency. No disagreement was found regarding the necessity of ‘garments speak’. This finding
supports previous research into ELF business settings. As discussed in the BELF research, business-
related technical terms or jargon and specific words used in business discourse facilitates communi-
cation, even among partners who do not know English so well (see Kankaanranta & Planken, 2010).
Kankaanranta and Planken’s (2010) study establishes that general vocabulary related to business, spe-
cific technical jargon, and the mastery of relevant genre in BELF are considered “highly specialised,
and unique to their distinct disciplines and areas of expertise” (p. 394) (see also Kankaanranta &
Louhiala-Salminen, 2010). Findings also indicate that it is not easy to understand communication of
a business community of practice (Wanger, 1998), who has no expertise (Kankaanranta & Planken,
2010) in vocabulary of the related business field. Accordingly, the current study advocates graduates
and professionals, who want to engage or are already engaged in this business, need to learn specific
RMG business terms and vocabulary, and use those terms in practical business contexts.
Pronunciation and accent

Jenkins (2000) argues that pronunciation is the most common cause resulting in lack of intelli-
gibility in the use of English as an international language. She found that pronunciation played a
role in loss of intelligibility in communication among different speakers of English.
391
M. Moninoor Roshid
There was no unanimity among RMG professionals with regard to how important pro-
nunciation is. The findings in relation to this issue identify two opposite opinions. Though
the majority of participants, irrespective of their roles in the organisation, supported native-
like correct pronunciation, all respondents emphasised the importance of intelligibility – it
does not matter if it is wrong pronunciation, but intelligibility is a must. In fact, there was no
question about the support for intelligibility among participants, but the question was whether
it should be native-like correct pronunciation or intelligible pronunciation. Here purpose and
context seem important. As the main purpose of communication in this industry is intelligi-
bility, accordingly intelligibility could be prioritised over correct native-like pronunciation.
Another reason for this emphasis is that being a non-native speaker of English it is quite difficult
for Bangladeshi RMG professionals to pronounce native-like English, because research on pro-
nunciation (Lenneberg, 1967) shows there are some factors (i.e. biological substitute) involved
in acquiring the nativeness principle. Accordingly, in practice, it is seen that very few people can
achieve native-like pronunciation in a foreign language (Levis, 2005). This complex finding in
the current research is partially in agreement with previous research. In a study conducted by
Kankaanranta and Planken (2010) in Europe, targeted at business professionals involved in inter-
action with native and non-native speakers of English, demonstrates that survey respondents
did not feel that native-like pronunciation is necessary for effective communication in BELF
business settings.
Like pronunciation, some of the participants discussed the role of accents in RMG intercultural
business communication because in ELF communication more and more accent varieties
have emerged (Jenkins, 2006) and they also play a role in BELF communication. Accordingly,
participants argued that professionals needed to speak not only with proper accents for their
business counterparts, but also they needed to understand and be aware of the accents of their
clients. ELF literature also suggests that learning different varieties of English facilitates effective
communication (see Qiufang, 2012). The analysis further reveals that participants sometimes
encountered difficulties caused by the variation in accents and they overcame difficulties by
understanding communication in context. Previous studies also reveals that foreign accents
occasionally posed particular difficulties in understanding other speakers, both NSE and NNSE
(see Rogerson-Revell, 2007, 2008). As seen in the literature, accents are a challenging factor in
BELF communication; yet, it is extremely rare that misunderstandings happen due to unfamiliar
accents, because both parties are familiar with the shared business domain (Kankaanranta &
Louhiala-Salminen, 2010).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that the above discussions based on data collected from interviews
highlight the range of linguistic competence required for oral communication in RMG inter-
national business, as practiced and perceived by RMG professionals working in different pro-
fessional management roles in this industry. The analysis of data shows, while there are some
broad areas of agreement, there are also differences between people and some differences of
emphasis. These are possibly related to roles, experience, and/or background. Sometimes, it is
very hard to have an overall view of participants and whether there are any patterns to their
perspectives.
However, the analysis of data reveals that the notion of mutual intelligibility is the main
point to take into account, as discussed throughout this chapter, in describing different elem-
ents of competence (i.e. fluency, grammar, pronunciation, and accent). Mutual intelligibility was
emphasised as a common concern among the majority of participants in this research. Overall,
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BELF competence
though participants argued that “to understand and to make business counterparts understand”
are the main goals of business communication and they need to work on them accordingly.
Here intelligibility does not have an absolute standard but rather it is relative to the context
which is co-constructed (Gumperz, 1992). If somebody is able to make someone understand, that
is enough. They did not demand much skill in English as usually followed in English as an
international language context. In fact, intelligibility is the main focus in this business industry.
“After all, language is communication, and it is intelligibility that makes communication pos-
sible” (Alptekin, 2007, p. 267).
In order to achieve intelligibility in RMG business communication, the analysis of this study
suggests acquiring certain linguistic competences in spoken communication. The findings iden-
tified the required areas of linguistic skills and justified the importance of those areas of skills
from different viewpoints, because the participants’ work roles carried different expectations,
depending on whether they were involved in marketing, merchandising, or commercial contracts.
The study recognised that the essential linguistic competences for spoken communication are
fluency, grammatical accuracy, vocabulary/words, both general and business jargon, and intelligi-
bility in pronunciation and accents.
It was also revealed that fluency is the most demanding skill in oral communication. In add-
ition, participants also called for relative grammatical skills in oral communication. However,
despite grammatical imperfection, negotiating meaning (interpretability) was usually perceived
and factually revealed, where possible. Accordingly, no participant reported any event where
miscommunication happened as a consequence of grammatical inaccuracies. Instead, they
stressed intelligibility over grammatical accuracy. Nevertheless, grammatical mistakes might
impact on image or reputation or prestige of individual communicators and their respective
corporate companies.
Which one is more important – grammatical accuracy or specific business words and/or
terms? BELF literature (e.g. Louhiala-Salminen & Kankaanranta, 2011) suggests that business
vocabulary is more important than grammatical accuracy. In this study, participants were not
asked to compare these two elements or skills in terms of relative necessity. However, the
data suggest that participants did not have any significant disagreement about the need for
RMG business terms (garments speak). Grammatical accuracy, however, was not perceived
as nearly as important as RMG business related vocabulary and jargon. Similarly, as pro-
nunciation and accents have a role in communication, participants suggested speaking with
intelligible pronunciation as much as possible, and speaking with a comprehensible accent.
In addition, it is perceived important to listen to interlocutors carefully in order to under-
stand their messages.
The findings of this study may have implications for teaching English particularly for business
purpose. Paradigm for teaching English can be shifted from English as a foreign language (EFL)
to (B)ELF. In EFL, focus is given on formal/grammatical accuracy which can be shifted to inter-
actional skills and rapport/trust building which is crucial for successful business communication.
Likewise, as intelligibility is more important than anything in business, it is not necessary to teach
learners native-like pronunciation that is followed in EIL paradigm. But we need to provide
awareness to the learners about diversity of accent of interlocutors so that misunderstanding may
not happen. As noted earlier, BELF communication is intercultural, it is necessary to provide
emphasis on developing multilingual competence among learners (see also Louhiala-Salminen,
2012). In doing so, curriculum, materials, and pedagogical practices need to design accordingly.
This might facilitate future graduates to be prepared better to better meet the needs of today’s
employers and globalised markets. Based on the findings, steps are needed to consider for revising
teacher education too.
393
M. Moninoor Roshid
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26
IDEOLOGIES OF ENGLISH
AS A LANGUAGE FOR
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
IN BANGLADESH
Critical insights from two research
projects in Bangladesh
Introduction
With the salience of English in the age of globalisation, there is a growing belief in many developing
country contexts that learning English can improve people’s socioeconomic circumstances and can
give them the chances to which they did not previously have access – what Erling and Seargeant
(2013, p. 8) have called ‘ideologies of English as a language for economic development’. Such
ideologies often mean that it is the perceived value of English, rather than the actual value, that
drives the desire of an individual or a community to learn English.This is, in part, because the rela-
tionship between English and development is difficult to measure. However, Rassool (2007) also
mentions the role of the media in reinforcing the strong ideological connection between English
and upwardly mobile aspirations in postcolonial developing societies:
Since languages serve to mediate versions of reality grounded in their associated

cultures, excolonial languages, and especially English, through the mass media continue
to be instrumental in shaping the aspirations, dreams and desires of large numbers of
people living in discrete polities.
(Rassool, 2007, p. 250)
Owing to the historical presence of English in Bangladesh as well as its continued growth as a
global language, there is a strong ideological relationship between English and economic devel-
opment in Bangladesh (Hamid & Erling, 2016; Seargeant, Erling, Solly, Chowdhury, & Rahman,
2017). Ideologies of English and development can be perceived at both a local and national level,
as can be seen in projects in Bangladesh such as ‘English in Action’ (EIA), which promote the
idea that an important role of ELT in Bangladesh is to support the economic development of
the country (Erling, 2017b).
In this chapter, we present critical insights into the local and national ideologies of English
as a language of development in Bangladesh gained from our involvement in two research
397
projects in Bangladesh. In the first project, undertaken in 2010, we attempted to develop

a systematic understanding of local ideologies of English and development, and how they
might be influencing demands for English language teaching (ELT) in the country. In that
study, we found among the participants strong ideologies of English as a language necessary
for working abroad and for increasing economic gain. Because of this presence of ideology
linking English and gainful economic migration, and also pleas for further research into the
role of English in migration (Coleman, 2010), we conducted a research study in 2013 where
we investigated the perceived value of English for Bangladeshi economic migrant workers
to the Middle East.
Our findings from the first study showed that the local ideologies of English as a language
of economic development are strong. Such prominent ideologies appeared to be substantially
grounded on the belief that English lubricates economic advancement, particularly at a level
when, for instance, individuals choose to work abroad. Moreover, the language is believed to
augment accessibility to information in accomplishing certain local socioeconomic activities
by exercising greater freedom. Upon further exploration of the aspired link between English
and economic migration, we found in a study on a group of returnee Bangladeshi migrant
workers to the Middle East that structural forces and global inequality considerably inter-
vene against establishing any straightforward link between English and gainful economic
migration. We also found that education and language skills carry values for the Bangladeshi
migrant workers, and those who do not have the desired level of education and/or language
skills are more prone to exploitation and hardship. However, our findings showed that even
migrant workers who have education and language skills may find this difficult to materialise
their economic aspiration because of the structural entanglements of economic migration
(Erling, Chowdhury, Solly, & Seargeant, 2019). Moreover, significant physical, social, and psy-
chological costs were noted by all participants (Erling et al., 2019). Combining the findings
of the two projects, we argue that opportunities for engaging in (language) education are
essential for Bangladeshis as they relate to increasing the capabilities of people to operate
with informed control in both the local or global contexts such as international economic
migration. However, in expanding opportunities for English language learning, we argue
that it is essential to maintain emphasis on the value of national and/or local languages for
increasing opportunities for informed participation in local and informal economies and
as a foundation for language learning. English can be useful not only for mediating global
connection of Bangladesh, including economic migration, but also for dealing with struc-
tural challenges and global inequalities through attempting to raise global awareness of those
structural inequalities.
We start this chapter by providing our personal reflections on and experiences of English and
development. We then introduce the theoretical framework and methodologies used in the two
studies. Finally, we discuss the findings of the two projects, drawing conclusions on English and
development in Bangladesh.
English and development: Personal reflections

Before describing the two research projects that we worked on together, we will recount how we
came to work on them, as we see this as central to our subjectivities and pre-configurations of
English and development across its local, national, and global lines. An ELT practitioner originally
based in Bangladesh, Qumrul experienced first-hand how individuals pursue English language
skills and assume a direct relationship between them and economic gain. Beth, on the other
hand, as an ELT pedagogue based in the ‘Global North’, experienced higher-level, institutional
398
Ideologies of English as a language
assumptions about the role of English in development through her involvement with ‘EIA’ and
other international projects.
Qumrul’s reflection on the role of English in development

My experience of studying English language and literature at a university in Dhaka and later
becoming a teacher of English and Applied Linguistics at that university gave me the opportunity
to experience first-hand how some of the assumptions about the relationship between English
and development emerge. English has an important position in the admission tests of univer-
sities, and the language is increasingly required for both public and private sector formal jobs.
Private corporations increasingly demand high proficiency in English from job applicants, even
when the day-to-day need for English in all those jobs is questionable. Given these important
gatekeeping roles of English, more and more people in society are willing to invest in learning
English. As an English language teacher, I saw that students often are optimistic that learning of
English will be useful in terms of gaining capital. I also noticed how donor-funded ELT projects
in Bangladesh increasingly focus on the role of English language learning in achieving national
priorities for development, particularly when I became aware of the EIA project.This was during
the time when two senior ELT scholars in Bangladesh told me that Elizabeth Erling was looking
for Bangladeshi ELT researchers for a research project on English and development in rural
Bangladesh. Knowing this, I contacted her, found out further information about the project and
was eventually recruited as a researcher.
In my position as both a teacher of English and a researcher within the field of applied
linguistics, I was also increasingly aware of some of the applied linguistics literature which
featured critical discussions of the hegemony of English as a global language in different domains
and its implications in the diverse world contexts (e.g. Phillipson, 1992). Reading those texts
made me take a cautious stance to the unwarranted celebration of English as a language of
development and feel the need for development aspirations to be informed by research-based
insights. Seeing the increasing focus on ELT and development in Bangladesh about which I was
curious because of my professional biography, I joined the two research projects that we describe
in the following.
Beth’s narrative of English and development

Since the beginning of my career in Applied Linguistics, I have been interested in the relationship
between English language education and globalisation, and I have critically reflected in my own
role in the spread of English (Erling, 2017a). My particular interest in the relationship between
English language learning and economic development began in 2008 when, as part of my role
as a lecturer in ELT at the Open University, United Kingdom, I started working on a large-scale
ELT project in Bangladesh: EIA.1 This project, which was to run from 2008 to 2017, was funded
with £50 million from the UK Department of International Development. I was a member of
the team that was charged with enhancing English language learning through the professional
development of teachers, through technology-based interventions in government primary and
secondary schools (for more on the project see Eyres, McCormick, & Power, 2018). It was this
experience of working in Bangladesh that brought me to want to better understand the rela-
tionship between ELT and economic development. I, thus, put together a proposal for a research
project intended to gain some insight into this relationship, which was funded by the British
Council. It was the context of this project which led me to Qumrul, with whom I have now
collaborated with on research for nearly 10 years.
399
Theoretical framework: Language ideology and development

Our experiences of being part of ELT and seeing how English is often positioned as a means of
economic development have shaped our views about language ideology and our conceptions
of development. We understand language ideologies as people’s shared bodies of common-sense
beliefs about a language that shape their relationships with that language and their perceptions
of its role in the social world where they live. The notion of language ideology which informs
our theoretical understanding has grown out of linguistic anthropological studies (e.g. Irvine
& Gal, 2009; Kroskrity, 2004; Woolard, 1998). Such scholars have explored ideology as a
cultural system of ideas about social and linguistic relationships. In our research and in this
chapter in particular, we are interested in the relationship between English and conceptions
of ‘development’.
Just as there are many ways in which the English language is perceived, there are also varying
conceptions of development. It can be viewed rather simply, in strict economic terms, or more
holistically. Sen (1999, p. 293), who embraces this more holistic conception, defines develop-
ment as focusing “on the ability – the substantive freedom – of people to lead the lives they have
reason to value and to enhance the real choices they have”. This view of development includes
the notion of ‘capabilities’, which means the abilities of people that help them to access resources
and to take informed decisions to lead desirable and purposeful lives.
In this chapter, our position is that ideologies of English and conceptions of development are
strongly related to Bangladesh. We, therefore, examine the specific socio-political and historical
contexts in which these ideologies have emerged in the section that follows.
Bangladesh: The context of development and the English language

While the details of both the situation of economic development and the history of ELT in
Bangladesh have been recorded in detail elsewhere (Hamid & Erling, 2016; Riaz & Rahman,
2016), in the following we review some of the key socio-political and historical developments
that have influenced the linguistic situation and ideologies of English in the country.
The socio-political and linguistic context of Bangladesh

Bangladesh in recent times has achieved commendable economic growth, becoming a lower
middle-income country in 2015 (The World Bank, 2018). However, the country still ranks
136 in the human development index of UNDP (2018) and has challenges in different areas,
including poverty, good governance, climate change, and human rights (Riaz & Rahman, 2016).
Bangladesh is a dominant Bangla majority country, although more than 30 indigenous
languages are spoken in the country (Hamid & Erling, 2016).The status of English, varying across
domains, can be said to be both a second and a foreign language.
Brief historical background of English in Bangladesh

English became a significant language in South Asia during colonial times when present-
day Bangladesh was part of a primarily Bengali-speaking region (i.e. Bengal) of the Indian
subcontinent. British colonial rule came to an end in 1947 through the birth of two inde-
pendent nations based on religion, India and Pakistan. The Muslim majority East Bengal,
although geographically distant, became part of Pakistan and was renamed East Pakistan
(later Bangladesh). The Language Movement (bhashaandolon) in 1952 in East Pakistan was
400
particularly significant in this era that arose in protest to the imposition of Urdu as the official
language. The movement sowed the seeds for the succeeding successful fight for independ-
ence in 1971 following which the nation of Bangladesh was established with Bangla as the
national language.
The newly independent Bangladesh experienced a nationalist promotion of Bangla, often
done by means of relegating English.This marginalised position of English changed in the 1990s
in line with the governmental aspiration to access globalised and technologically advanced
world economy and privatisation (Hossain & Tollefson, 2007). After long withdrawal from
English, the government strengthened its English education policy by making English compul-
sory from level 1 to higher secondary level and by also introducing communicative language
teaching as the preferred method of language teaching in government schools. It has been
argued that the re-introduction of English at the intensity that the government desired was
ambitious and unsustainable given the inadequacy of infrastructure and resources (Hamid, 2011;
Hamid & Erling, 2016).
English education and development aid in Bangladesh

Given the development context of Bangladesh and the fact that the country spends one of the
lowest in South Asia in education (The World Bank, 2016), it is not surprising that Bangladesh
substantially relies on development aid for education explorations and initiatives, including
English language education (Erling, 2017b). English language initiatives in the country seem
to be increasingly influenced by the discourses that English can be a valuable tool for inter-
national development (Seargeant & Erling, 2011). Learning English is often viewed as being
able to reduce poverty and help people to participate in economic activities at a global level
(Erling, 2017b). Such views guide government and non-government interventions that aim to
upscale the quality of ELT. ELT projects of this nature in Bangladesh include English Language
Teaching Improvement Project, Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project
or Teaching Quality Improvement in Secondary Education Project, which were all funded and
implemented by donor agencies (e.g. the World Bank or the Department for International
Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom) and supported by the government. One rela-
tively recent addition to these projects was EIA, a nine-year project funded by DFID which
ran from 2008 to 2017 and aimed “to significantly increase the number of people able to com-
municate in English to levels that will enable them to participate fully in economic and social
activities and opportunities” (EIA, 2010). As mentioned above, it was the context of this project
that brought the two authors of this chapter together and that provided the impetus for the
research projects described in the following.
Research on English and economic development in Bangladesh

Having provided a description of English and development context in Bangladesh in brief, we
now present the two research projects that we worked on, which attempted to explore various
aspects of English language learning and economic development.
Project 1: Attitudes to English as a language for

international development in rural Bangladesh
The first research project we worked on together employed an ethnographically based method-
ology to build systematic understanding of the local beliefs and aspirations about learning English
401
among a group of people in two rural communities in Bangladesh. One of the sites was Toke in
the Gazipur district and the other was Shak Char in the Lakshmipur district. Two Bangladeshi
researchers (Qumrul being one of them) conducted five-day field visits to each of the sites, where
they not only collected data primarily through semi-structured interviews but also noted their
observations of the geo-economic, sociocultural and linguistic features of the local communities
(for details on the project see Erling, Seargeant, Solly, Chowdhury, & Rahman, 2012). The interview
schedule was flexibly based on topics that probed into participants’ perspectives on the importance
of general education, learning English, the role of English and general education for individual
and community development and issues of language and cultural identity. The two Bangladeshi
researchers transcribed and translated the data, which were then qualitatively content analysed.
In total, 28 participants were interviewed who were selected according to the variables of
profession, age, education, religion, gender, and social class to ensure that the cohort represents
a cross-section of people in the respective rural communities. In conducting the research, eth-
ical sensitivity was exercised throughout the project, particularly in line with local educational
and socio-cultural realities and expectations (see Hultgren, Erling & Chowdhury, 2016). All
participants are referred to using pseudonyms.
Project 2: English for economic development: A case study

of migrant workers from Bangladesh
As mentioned earlier, the first research project found that people linked English skills with
gainful economic migration, which led us to design a follow-up project which set out to explore
the perceived needs of English for Bangladeshi migrant workers, further developing the quali-
tative methodology designed for undertaking Project 1. The research was undertaken in a rural
village in the Munshiganj district, where the tendency of economic migration to the Middle East
is high among residents.The project team for this research was the same as the previous one. Data
collection took place in three steps: a pilot study, the main visit, and a follow-up. The researchers
gained their access to the local community with the help of a local guide who helped to recruit
participants through ‘snowball sampling’.
The interview schedule used in the project was designed to elicit narratives (Pavlenko, 2007).
The participants recounted their reflections on migration and the role of language therein so
that the value of languages for economic migration could be understood in individually and
historically informed manner. Drawing on insights from the first project, the study continued
practicing ethical sensitivity in data collection, and this became even more significant for this
project as participants reported stories of significant hardship (Chowdhury & Erling, in press;
Erling, Seargeant, Solly, Chowdhury, & Rahman, 2015).
In total, 27 migrant workers were interviewed for the project, with 23 of them being male
and 4 female. The median age of the participants was 44 and the average number of years that
they had worked abroad was ten.The most common country where the participants had worked
is Saudi Arabia (67%), followed by the UAE and Kuwait. The migrant workers had mostly
returned permanently to Bangladesh, but there were a few who were on vacation when they
were interviewed and were planning to return to their jobs. The different fields of work of the
participants while working abroad included shopkeeping, catering, domestic work, mechanic,
security, driver, construction, and pipeline worker.With regard to their education levels, 15% had
no formal education, 15% had primary education and 56% had secondary education, and the rest
of the participants (14%) had studied beyond the secondary level. With regard to their language
competences, 25 of the participants reported that they spoke Arabic, 23 reported that they spoke
English, and 20 reported that they spoke Hindi.
402
The findings
Findings from Project 1

In the first study, we found evidence of strong ideologies of English as a language of economic
development in both sites. The participants perceived English as being useful for their partici-
pation in globalisation, particularly with regard to opening up better employment prospects to
them, working abroad, and accessing information technology. Regardless of their age or pro-
fession, a perceived link between English language skills and doing good and desirable jobs was
dominant among the cohort. According to the participants, some aspirations of doing such better
jobs include leading a better lifestyle, having less physical hardship, getting respect and authority
in the community, and achieving mobility to urban areas. Sumon Miah, a rickshaw-puller, for
example, reported:
people would get better jobs if they knew English. No one would then do the job of
digging the earth. People would do mobile business and computer related business etc.
Then they would not have to work so hard.
(Sumon Miah, rickshaw-puller)
In the above extract, Sumon seems to see a hierarchy of jobs, and he views English as a ladder
for upward mobility in this hierarchy, which helps a person gain employment through less hard
and physical labour. As Sumon himself does the toilsome work of being a rickshaw-puller, per-
haps he envisions that English would be a liberator from his hardships and struggles. He also
seems to imagine that the English language knowledge helps to transform an agrarian society to
knowledge-based economy, where no one digs the earth. It is worth question, however, whether
this simplistic co-relation between English and doing less physically challenging jobs is rooted in
reality, what other forms of capital would be needed to spur such a transition.
More than 90% of the participants also associated better English language skills with employ-
ment in foreign countries, including the Middle East or Malaysia, countries having their own
national languages. Whereas some of these participants viewed English necessary for better eco-
nomic gain in foreign countries, some others viewed English essential for survival and to avoid
danger. Suleiman Shahid, a farmer, for example, said: ‘In foreign countries, if you do not know
English, you will starve’. Elsewhere, Devika, a cleaner, seemed to link English with getting formal
and economically gainful jobs in foreign countries:
people who know English get ‘square’ work so that they can nicely do their work
wearing shirts and pants. If they do not know English, they need to do the filthiest
work. If they knew English, they could have earned more.They could have been happy
on all sides.
(Devika, cleaner)
Strong ideologies of English as a language of working abroad abound among the participants as
above, we were motivated to conduct our second study on English and economic migration to
which we will turn soon (see ‘Findings from Project 2’ section).
The participants generally viewed English as being useful for accessing information tech-
nology like mobile phones or computers. Some of the participants reported that due to the
ubiquity of mobile phones even in rural areas, anyone with limited English proficiency can use
mobile phones. However, it appeared from the responses of most of the participants that English
403
is needed to operate mobile phones with greater and informed control. Many of the participants,
however, equated English with Roman script as they reported to use transliterated Bangla, for
example, for text messaging.
In our interviews, we also asked participants about their perceived needs for English in local
industries. Even though some participants reported ambivalence of the validity of knowing
English in the rural occupations (e.g. farming or poultry), there were many participants working
in the professions who wanted to learn English.
When the company gives us pesticides there is a paper with instructions written in
English with it. If I knew English, I could have followed the instructions properly …
If we put in too much in the field, the crop will be harmed and if we put in too little,
the diseases will not be cured.
(Moshiur, farmer)
This extract suggests that proficiency in English in rural context can widen people’s access to
information across a range of activities. These include, for example, shop signs, information on
packages, electricity bills, understanding text messages or doctor’s prescriptions. This ability to
access information seems to be perceived as a means of broadening participants’ choices and
reducing their reliance on other people. This can be seen, for example, in the following extract
from Ferdousi, a housewife, who reports the following:
Suppose someone has a poultry business. Lots of information on the poultry medi-
cine is written in English. If he would have read and understood by himself, he would
not have asked for someone’s help, he could try to read and understand by himself …
I know someone like this … He is illiterate, he cannot do anything. He has a poultry
business and goes to a lot of people when he cannot understand. He would not need
to go to someone if he knew English.You will be ashamed after going to someone for
one or two days.
(Ferdousi, housewife)
This quote shows that Ferdousi views proficiency in English as an expansion of freedom and the
absence of English knowledge as a lack of freedom and an obstacle. A similar example can be seen
in an extract from Devika, a cleaner, who takes pride in her daughter because she knows English
and can offer help to the people in the community:
Even many elder persons respect her … many people bring their electricity bill to her
and say ‘… can you see the bill and say where should the money be paid and by when?’
… when someone falls ill and visits a doctor, she comes to my daughter with the pre-
scription and says, ‘can you please see when I should have which medicine?’
(Devika, cleaner)
Devika sees her daughter as someone who is respected in the community for her ability to
perform certain tasks that many others cannot, because they do not know English. In a further
extract which illustrates her strong ideology of English as a social enabler, she notes: “If you do
not know English, you are like blind person even though you have your eyesight”.
The above findings show that the participants view English as valuable for their participa-
tion in global networks. The language is viewed as useful for improving people’s chances for
better employment, at home or abroad, and to navigate information technology with informed
404
agency. Moreover, seeing how proficiency in the language augments the abilities of people to do
certain locally meaningful tasks, they identify English with social esteem. This appears that the
local ideology of English is sometimes grounded on how people experience such a capability
enhancement or deprivation (Sen, 1999) role of English, relating to getting social respect.
While these findings indicate a perceived need and value for English language skills,
upon further analysis we noticed that many of the perceived needs of English reported
by participants could be interpreted as basic educational needs in Bangla. The provision of
Bangla as a language of essential information (e.g. pesticides), for example, could minimise
the need for people to depend on others to access basic information, thus enhancing their
local capabilities. This is useful to add in this regard that some of the participants confused
English for basic literacy and numeracy, possibly viewing it as a collective package for edu-
cation instead of a language. Another issue is that we do not know whether the perceived
needs of English in this study reflect a real need, or whether they represent views that English
works as a panacea or a magic wand to their structurally embedded struggles and hardships
(see also Coleman, 2011).
Findings from Project 2

In the second study, we found evidence that English has useful functional value for the Bangladeshi
migrant workers in the Middle East. We also found, however, that this value depends on factors
like domains and contexts of communication and is complexly positioned in relation to Arabic,
the primary local language in the Middle East. Moreover, taking on board factors like the struc-
tural entanglements of economic migration and the ‘cost’ of migration that the participants
reported, we found it difficult to establish any direct relationship between English and develop-
ment for them.
Based on the accounts of the participants, the different areas of economic migration where
English appears to be valuable are early survival, technology-aided work, global business
organisations, and communication with other migrant workers (Seargeant, Erling, Solly, &
Chowdhury, 2017). The participants reported that English can be useful for initial survival
in the host country, as a substitute particularly when the local language is still not known. It
also appeared that a basic proficiency in English is required to perform the day-to-day jobs
in technology-based occupations such as automobile or air-conditioning. Imran, a current AC
mechanic in Saudi Arabia, told us: “Big ACs have diagrams. You have to read those. Otherwise,
you can’t repair the ACs”. English was also viewed as a useful resource to work in non-national
or global organisations, run by, for example, the Europeans or the Indians. Kalam who worked in
an international hospital in Saudi Arabia said about his linguistic experience:
I worked in a hospital which was run by people from Europe and the USA. So, I had to
speak in English.There were very few Arab staff in that hospital. I mostly spoke English.
Use of Arabic was very limited.
(Kalam, hospital labourer)
English was also perceived useful as a lingua franca, along with Hindi and Arabic, to communi-
cate with other migrant workers.
Arabic, according to the participants, is necessary to navigate through their everyday lives, for
communication with their local employers, fellow workers, supervisors or customers. Sobhan,
for example, said: “In my first overseas job as a grocer, I had to know Arabic. Since my job was
to sell different items, it was very important for me to know the names of different items and to
405
count in Arabic”. We also found dominant discourses among the participants of the necessity of
knowing Arabic to overcome dangerous situations. In certain professions, for example, domestic
work, low proficiency in the language can be stressful and can substantially enhance the vulner-
ability of those in the profession. Afia, who worked in six Middle-Eastern countries as a domestic
worker, reported how her lack of proficiency in Arabic had serious consequences:
At the beginning I had lots of problems with language. If they asked for glass, I used
to give plate. If they asked for spoons, I gave plates. In the case of such mistakes, they
knocked me in my hand. They knocked me in my head with the thing that they asked
for. That’s how I remembered the names of things.
(Afia, domestic worker)
Perhaps congruous to the above description of the perceived functional values of English and
Arabic in the Middle East, there were perceptions available among the participants that language
skills, including English, are valuable to achieve gainful outcome in economic migration. Of the
participants, 81% reported that language skills had contribution to accrue economic benefits for
them. In addition, education and technical skills were also related to having positive experience
in economic migration by a considerable section of the participants.
Even though the participants dominantly perceived (English) language skills valuable for
gainful economic migration, upon analysis of the narratives of the participants, we found that
there are several factors involved in Bangladeshi economic migration that substantially influence
success or failure as economic migrants, unsettling any straightforward contribution of educa-
tion or language skills to the economic benefits of the participants (see Erling et al., 2019 for
details). Some of these factors include costs of migration, the type of visa obtained, recruiters, the
type of employer, and the length of time spent abroad. Many of the participants mentioned that
Bangladeshi migrant workers usually go to the Middle East on ‘labour visa’, whereas migrant
workers from some other countries more commonly go with ‘trade visa’. As a result, according
to them, many Bangladeshi migrant workers, despite having the necessary skills and doing the
hard work, earn considerably less because of the structural limitations of their visa types. Liton, a
migrant worker to the Saudi Arabia who studied till the undergraduate level, but was dissatisfied
with his salaries and overall economic achievement, said:
If you look at the Filipinos, they always come to Saudi Arabia with skill visa. Whether
they know the work or not, their government manages to give them trade visa. …
Some of them come as ‘plumber’, some as ‘mason’. But we, the Bangladeshis, we always
come on labour or cleaner visas. That happens with everyone. … Bangladeshi workers
are very hard-working. Why should we get 600 Riyal while someone else would get
2000 Riyal doing similar work?
(Liton, catering worker)
Another important intervening factor appears to be the role of recruiters, as many of the
participants related how they got cheated by the recruiters to get the job or the salary that they
had been promised for prior to migration. In the word of Pijush:
In my case, I had been promised that I would be given 22/24 dollar salary per day. But
in reality, I was given only 16 dollar salary per day. What could I do! I did not have
any option. I came to the foreign country by selling land of my father. This happened
days after days that they did not give me the salary that they promised. I had a lot of
406
problems. …The agents always give false promises to the workers. There is always a
difference between what is promised and what one gets.
(Pijush, construction worker)
Elsewhere, Badol, for example, who regrets his decision to pursue economic migration, had sec-
ondary qualification, could speak English, Hindi, and Arabic, and worked as an electrician for
some time before he migrated to the UAE to work. Even though he had been promised to work
as an electrician by his recruiting agency, he found himself as a construction worker in UAE,
receiving half the salary of what he had been promised. Being utterly frustrated, he left the job,
became an illegal resident, and eventually returned to Bangladesh, unable to bear the resulting
insecurity and fear. One of the most highly educated and linguistically prepared participants of
our cohort, Badol saw economic migration as follows:
Before I went abroad, I too had the ambition that things will significantly change if
I could go abroad. But you know this did not happen. After going there, I saw a different
reality. People say a lot of things, but it’s very difficult to change your circumstances at
foreign countries. … If situation favours you and you show good performance, you will
do well. But things do not work accordingly, and then this is a complete loss. Waste of
money, waste of time, waste of your energy and you get old.You do the hard work and
your body becomes weak.
(Badol, construction worker)
Compared to the above mixed or negative experiences, participants who had positive experiences
of migration often saw a combination of different factors playing roles in their success where this
was difficult to discern a direct and defining contribution of language skills, including English.
Bilkis, a domestic worker, for example, knew Arabic and was happy with the economic outcome of
her work in the Middle East. She almost exclusively attributed her economic success as a domestic
worker to her malik’s (boss) family, as she also said elsewhere in the interview of the highly conse-
quential role of the maliks in domestic worker profession: “In the work of domestic worker, if the
malik does not want to increase your salary, your salary will not increase. Things depend on their
wishes”.
When considering whether the English language learning can contribute to ‘successful’
migration, we found it useful to take on board the physical, social, and psychological costs of
economic migration. Some of these costs that are uncovered include facing salary and benefit-
related exploitations, doing hard labour, living in confining and austere conditions, getting ill,
living in isolation, worrying for the family back home, feeling vulnerable, experiencing intense
culture shock, and facing physical abuse by the employers. Two of the participants, for example,
had to return to Bangladesh because of illness, one of them to the extent that he could never
migrate again. Gofur (58), a returnee migrant worker in our cohort who worked for 18 years
in Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia told us in informal conversations that he sacrificed getting
married in his effort to remit money, particularly for his brother’s and uncle’s families.
Other studies have found that female migrant workers often deal with social stigma in
Bangladesh (Bélanger & Rahman, 2013), something that we too found a hint of in our research:
Bilkis: 75 per cent of the people said that working in foreign countries is bad.
Qumrul: Why do you think they said so?
Bilkis: You know all those reasons.There is lack of security and others… work situation is not
good.
407
Qumrul: Did they mean it only for women or for men also?
Bilkis: No, they meant it only for women.
(Bilkis, domestic worker)
Based on these findings, we argue that the economic achievability of English for the Bangladeshi
migrant workers is considerably entangled in the structural myriads of economic migration.
Moreover, by arguing that even successful economic migration often has its physical and psycho-
logical costs, by drawing on Sen (1999), we question whether economic migration enhances the
capabilities of the participants.
Conclusion
Any hard evidence of a link between English and economic progress is rare. Despite this, ideolo-
gies of English considerably shape English language education policies and practices in Asia,
including Bangladesh (Seargeant & Erling, 2011).The findings of our two research studies under-
taken in rural Bangladesh indicate that people in rural Bangladeshi communities have strong
ideologies of English as a language of economic development.
We found two major facets in the rural ideologies of English and development. First, that
learning English can enable people to access greater information in local socioeconomic contexts
and second, that English can help them to participate in global economic activities, including
migrating to foreign countries to work. Following up on the beliefs about English and migra-
tion, we found in our research among a group of returnee Bangladeshi migrant workers to the
Middle East that because of the strong influences of factors like structural complexity and global
inequality, it is hard to find any clear connection between English language skills and successful
economic migration. We found that education and language skills have functional value for
the Bangladeshi economic migrants and a lack of it enhances their risks to face exploitation.
However, it appeared that because of the strength of global power structures even those in
possession of education and language skills may find it difficult to achieve profitable outcomes
of their economic migration experience (Erling et al., 2019). Moreover, we found that profit-
able migration may entail considerable physical, social, and psychological costs on the migrant
workers and their families (Erling et al., 2019).
The strong ideological relationship that Bangladeshis perceive between English as a language of
economic development and mobility should not be brushed away given what Erling et al. (2012,
p. 18) note, that is, that “beliefs about the role played by English can be part of the envisioned
success that is required in order for actual development to occur”. However, these two studies
suggest that the local ideology of English is sometimes constructed in the absence of Bangla as a
language of essential information, creating a language-based division in the local community in
terms of access to information. Moreover, issues like structural complexity and global inequality
should be taken on board in exploring the value of English for the Bangladeshis at a global eco-
nomic level, including international economic migration. In addition, it is important to consider
the (physical and psychological) costs involved for economically successful migrants. We, there-
fore, suggest that instead of focusing narrowly on the relationship between English and economic
gain (with positivist rigor), perhaps we should both widen (to see the structural entanglements)
and deepen (to see the less visible costs) our focus to understand English and economic develop-
ment in a humane, holistic, and structurally informed manner.
While our findings showed the determining influence of structural inequalities, we, how-
ever, argue that improving access to education and language learning can help Bangladeshis be
better equipped to face structural challenges, including global inequalities. However, there needs
408
to remain a focus on the role of the national language, both for participation in local socio-
economic activities and also as a basis for language learning. English can be helpful not only for
migration but also for participating in global communities which challenge global inequalities
and push for awareness and regulation of the tribulations that many people face when working
abroad. Moreover, people also need to demand more control over their lives and well-being and
freedoms to pursue education and meaningful work. Education and language learning are part of
this, also for challenging global structure of inequality.
The two authors of this chapter were inspired to get involved in research about the relationship
between English language learning and development in Bangladesh because of our experience of
the power of ideologies of English as a language of development, both in policy and in English
language learning. Combining the findings of the two projects, we conclude that ideologies
and interventions related to English and development should take into account a more holistic
(deep and wide) picture of the benefits of English language learning in Bangladesh. Broad-brush
uncritical celebration of the positive ideologies of English as a language of development winds
up fuelling local dreams and aspirations of English language learning and development, but it
could also be responsible for enhancing social inequalities as well as the vulnerability of people
seeking to enhance their capabilities.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the British Council for funding the two research projects that we draw
on in this chapter: “Attitudes to English as a language for international development in rural
Bangladesh” (Erling, Seargeant, Solly, Chowdhury, & Rahman, 2012) and “English for economic
development: A case study of migrant workers from Bangladesh” (Erling et al., 2015). We would
like to acknowledge the particular contributions of our colleagues Sayeedur Rahman, Philip
Seargeant, and Mike Solly who worked with us on these projects.We thank the Open University,
United Kingdom, the Institute of Modern Languages (IML), the University of Dhaka, and
members of the EIA project team, who all supported this research and facilitated its undertaking.
We are especially indebted to the participants in these studies, who generously shared with us
their stories, time, and insights.
Note
1 https://www.eiabd.com/
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27
CONCLUSION
Lessons from the past and the future directives
for English language education in Bangladesh
Mahmud Hasan Khan, Mian Md. Naushaad Kabir
and Md. Zulfeqar Haider
English is not a Bangladeshi language unlike it is in many non-English speaking countries,

for instance, the neighbouring country India that shares the same colonial past in homing the
language. The way English grew in the two countries – after cutting off the umbilical cord
twice, first in 1947 when the previously known Indian subcontinent was divided between
India and Pakistan, and later in 1971 when Bangladesh was born as an independent country
severing its ties from West Pakistan – however, is different due to their unique economic and
socio-political developments. The nature of relationship that Bangladesh has with English is
hardly less intimate and it is apparent that the language has gently but securely permeated
various domains of communication and interfaces (e.g. trade and commerce with foreign
countries, international relations, and as medium of instruction in the classroom among
others) in the last few decades. For the sake of not getting distracted from the principle
focuses of this Handbook, we would delimit our present discussion on English with refer-
ence to the domain of academic institutions. This chapter does not intend to summarise (see
Sultana & Roshid, Chapter 1 of this Handbook) the content of the book; it rather delineates
the general conditions of possibility that made English exist in this locale and, based on the
chapters presented in the book, anticipates the future directions in which English may con-
tinue to subsist, especially to respond to calls for a more adaptive, sustainable, and culture-
appropriate communication for the users of a globalised, technologically advanced world in
the 21st century.
Bangladesh may share a similar historical development of English with most of the South
and Southeast Asian countries. Pennycook (1994), in his classical work, titled, The cultural pol-
itics of English as an international language, critically questions the colonial attempts to spread to
the locals propagandas like ‘English is good’, ‘The West is better’ and so on culminating in the
creation of British Council monitored ‘ELT as a business industry’ through ‘disciplining lin-
guistics and applied linguistics’ around the globe. With the publication of Ruanni’s Unequal
Englishes (2016) and the various projects on translinguistics and translanguaging (Canagarajah,
2013; Garcia, 2009; Sultana, 2015), it is by now obvious that English, in order for its existence,
needs to rely on those speakers who do not speak it as their first language. In many postcolonial
countries, one may hear speakers claim, ‘I am not English, but English is my first language’
(Pillai & Khan, 2011).
411
Historical bonafides of English Language Education in Bangladesh

Part 1 gives an overview of the historical and cultural realities shaping the courses and curves of
English language education (ELE) in Bangladesh through its four chapters that, in combination,
offer a retrospective lens to revisit some fundamental concerns that question the place and priority
given to ELE in the country. The chapters also help develop a critical perspective towards the way
the English language teaching policies and practices have been twisted by the will and interest of the
people in power and authority (Islam, 2011; Rahim, 1991; Rahman, Hamzah, Meera, & Rahman,
2010) – be it the colonial rulers or the local elites.The four chapters in the first part stress the need
for rethinking the current socio-political and economic context of Bangladesh in order to plan,
design, and implement a context-based, inclusive, and appropriate ELE policy in the country.
However, an intriguing question also comes to our mind, especially when looking back at
the history and a crucial point to ponder is where to start from, as it is possible to write a very
different history of the development of English in India or in Pakistan albeit the two countries
were under the same colonial administration.When Macaulay wrote the English language policy
in the Indian sub-continent, he did not have a specific or alternative vision for Bangladesh. The
British Raj had the Indian subcontinent in mind; the historical development of which can be
found captured in any of the accounts on ‘History of English in India’ chapters (Gargesh, 2006;
Mukherjee, 2010). It is true that no two journeys are alike; hence, a specific analysis of the specific
context of Bangladesh is required.
A depiction of ELE requires to begin by mapping the historical trajectory of English-at-
home, i.e. a description of the current practices in English. The depiction however needs to be
scrutinised, that is, whether the discussion is mediated by the ‘anxiety’ of postcolonial experi-
ence, or as one can see, in recent times, increasingly, by the symptoms of globalisation and other
‘planetary vulgates’ (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 2001). The suggestion for “a gradual replacement
of the dominant language-as-problem attitude by the language-as-resource perspective viewing
bi-/multilingualism as a resource in language-planning activities” (see Rahman, Chapter 3 in this
volume) offers insights in resolving the dichotomous facets of ELE. Rahman feels that resources
for learning and teaching English should be available to the students and teachers in a way similar
to what Pennycook (2010) identifies language as a ‘local practice’ so that the stakeholders can
use the materials and infrastructure effectively, in addition to obtaining administrative support
for using English alongside the national language Bangla, when necessary. The scenario can be
slightly different in the classrooms in Chittagong Hill Tracts where students and teachers may
need to use indigenous languages (i.e.Chakma, Marma, etc.) in addition to Bangla and English. In
this connection it is pertinent to mention that the Education Ministry has initiated the policy for
using indigenous languages in the classroom. Hence, minority language policy can be a guideline
for elsewhere in the country where many students (including their teachers) may want to use
their preferred languages in the country to learn (and teach) English, in order for them to attain
the ‘uncanny fluency’ – by borrowing Bhabha’s (2012) words – in a foreign or second language.
(Re-)localising ELE in Bangladesh

Parts Two and Three offer a closer look at the more practical aspects of English language teaching
as they throw lights on curriculum reform, pedagogic practices and, most importantly, the issues
of assessment and language testing in the academic domains of Bangladesh.The chapters in these
parts point to a mismatch among the curriculum, teaching-learning practices and the assessment
and test format of English at various levels of instructional programmes. Especially the three
chapters in Part Three portray the chaotic landscape of English language testing policy and
412
Conclusion
practices in Bangladeshi mainstream school system, further complicated by high-stake external

examination with negative washback effects on students, teachers, the teaching and learning, etc.
and suffered by test formats that have neither the validity nor the reliability to assess candidates’
English language skills. The three chapters on Part Three conforms to the fact that language
testing research in Bangladesh has a limited focus on less critical aspects such as test takers’ and
test setters’ perceptions of test item difficulty, verbal analysis of test items and format and marks
distribution, etc. Future research in testing should include more updated test validation studies
with a focus on more critical issues such as assessment literacy. Researchers should also raise
questions regarding the role of power and the assumed neutrality (Troudi, 2018), objectivity, and
fairness of the tests (Au, 2009; Kunan, 2010; Shohamy, 2001) and, more importantly, the role of
language testing in shaping national, global and transnational identities (Shohamy, 2013).
The chapters in Parts Two and Three also raise concerns about the adhoc based, sometimes,
abrupt policy moves that are not rooted in empirical research and do not cater to the needs and
aspirations of the students, teachers, teacher trainers, test setters, markers, and other stakeholders.
Previous research has already questioned the effectiveness of the donor initiated, project based
initiatives in the areas of English language curriculum development, assessment reform, teacher
development as they have largely failed to bring about any significant changes in the overall
learning-teaching practices at most secondary schools (Kirkwood & Rae, 2011). Another reason
for the failure of such reform programmes is that they were designed with little or no awareness
of the educational systems in which the classroom is framed, including ‘local, non-Anglo-centric
concepts’ (Adamson, 2005, Abstract, para. 1) or, consideration of the serious constraints of resources
and disparity in resource allocation (Hamid, 2010). Therefore, the accounts and arguments
presented in Parts Two and Three of this Handbook reiterate the need for initiating a reform that
is rooted in the emerging needs of ELE in Bangladesh by addressing and embracing the local and
global challenges of the 21st century learning, Sustainable Development Goals and Vision 2041.
The concern for ELE in recent Bangladesh is rather to identify the ‘right’ place or the status
of English in the country, and how it has been translated in the curriculum and in the designing
of the syllabi. The chapters in this Handbook have captured some of the crucial arguments in
relation to the place of English in the curriculum, syllabus and crucially the practice of English
language learning and teaching theories in their micro aspect, i.e. in the classroom. ELT theories
are English products, i.e. they are made in the countries from the ‘inner circles’ (Kachru, 1992).
Local ELT functionaries, after receiving training for decades by the British Council and their
associates should have been able to theorise teaching English and also create an effective learning
space for the students.The donor-funded ELT projects have been widely reported, however what
remained unsaid or bracketed is the political economy of foreign funded projects and the provi-
sion for spending taxpayers’ money for years without specific long-term infrastructural changes.
The pedagogical concern vis-à-vis teaching English through literature

or language-in-use
What should be the ideal pedagogical tool, whether ELT-based instruments or literature-based
text, has been a matter of perennial discussion in Bangladesh. This issue has also been the topic
of Part Four of this Handbook. However, a short discussion could be useful in order to continue
the debate. Gauri Viswanathan (1989) put it classically that
The 1835 English Education Act of William Bentinck, which swiftly followed Macaulay’s
minute of the same year, officially required the natives of India to submit to the study of
English literature, irrevocably altering the direction of Indian education (p. 45).
413
In that tug of war between a secularist humanist and a religious teaching against the background
of whether it should be orientalist or Anglicist model of education in the colonial India, lit-
erary studies occupies an esteemed position determined by the British Administration in the
early Nineteenth Century. What Pennycook (1994, also, see above) explained through his trea-
tise on the foundation of English Studies in the next century Indian subcontinent, has also its
roots in Viswanathan. What Viswanathan has bracketed, according to Haq (2001) is the participa-
tion of the Indians in that colonial project. By referring to Raja Ram Mohon Roy and Nirod
Chowdhury, Haq argues that the reality is, “in the Indian subcontinent those who know English
tend to be well-off ” (p. 219). No postcolonial critic, including Viswanathan should be stunned
when some poor Indians come near here and tell her that she wants to learn English desperately,
wants to live the life of those who learnt English and thus can live in a house like hers ‘rather
than help build them’ (in Haq, p. 219). For Haq, English given its position in the contemporary
world and in the university ensures jobs and prosperity, but it also compels literature Professor
David Lurie and the likes to teach courses in Communication Skills. Lurie is the protagonist of
Coetzee’s much acclaimed novel, Disgrace, a character through whom the author explores the
‘changing power relations in post-apartheid South Africa’ (Haq, p. 209). A professor of English
Literature, Lurie, falls from the grace on multiple levels. However, for Haq, Lurie teaching courses
like ‘Communication 101’ or ‘Communication Skills and Communications 201’ becomes one of
the central metaphors of changing academic landscape in Bangladesh’s post-ELT English Studies
reality (see Mortuza, Chapter 11 of this Handbook). More systemic involvement of all stakeholders
of education (see Kabir, Chapter 13 of this Handbook) and an in-depth research based formu-
lation of holistic education policy, keeping in consideration the existing requirements of the
country and the emerging challenges in future, is imperative in this regard.
ELE a propos socio-economic, politico-cultural, and techno-ideological

antagonisms in Bangladesh and construction of identity
Bangladesh is largely a monolingual country. The indigenous population is relatively very small;
they are only 1% of the entire population. Since not many studies have been conducted on the
language policy for the indigenous population or ethnic languages in the country, the antagonisms
in relation to language management (Spolsky, 2009) or minority language policy that are adopted
in the country can hardly be critically reflected upon. By contrast, English language policy, i.e. lan-
guage assessment, curriculum, and syllabus design (e.g. Begum & Farooqui, 2008; Das et al., 2014;
Hamid, 2010) including the politics of medium of instruction (e.g. Hamid, Jahan & Islam, 2013;
Sultana, 2014) has been well studied.What remained unexplored are the issues of political economy
of choosing English as a local language in this heavily economically divided country where lan-
guage learning and teaching has often been defined as a matter of instruction only. An instruction-
based approach has the potential danger of perceiving language learning as a decontextualised
practice outside the context of its use.
The overview of the ELT scenario in Bangladesh that we get from the ‘Introduction’
(Sultana & Roshid), the critical rendering of such situations optimistically put in the ‘Preface’
(Pennycook), and the cacophonous chapters in the Handbook help us identify the roads, having
already been taken, and the roads to be further taken in future. The perception of the entity
of English has been intrigued by diverse dimensions; it can no longer be appraised as being
separate from its social, cultural, religious, political, economical, and historical tinges. English
topples in poor or developing nations like Bangladesh propagating the enchanting ideas like
better gateway to job, change of status and attaining prestige, and many other tangible and intan-
gible material cobwebs of capitalism (Sultana, 2014, 2016). The language and education through
414
Conclusion
it, nonetheless, has the immense potentiality regarding its previous role and present status in the
country. Mohanty (2009), while discussing the role of the minority language issues and English
in Odisha, commented,
In a true multilingual system, all languages can have their legitimate place: mother
tongues, languages of regional, national and wider communication. English and
all other world languages can play their role; they can be healer languages and not
‘killer languages’. In a politically uncontaminated society that would not permit evil
entrepreneurs of identity to rob others of their linguistic capital and cultural rootedness,
mother tongues and other languages can complement each other. (pp. 5–6)
The linguistic context of Odisha or India can in no way be equated with that of Bangladesh,
which is largely considered monolingual; however, she cannot deny her meager portion
multilinguality geographically located in the southeastern and northeastern regions including
Chittagong and Sylhet divisions. In addition, the country, historically, was ruled by the Senas,
the Palas, the Mughals, the British, and the Pakistanis – all her rulers left their distinct cultural
and linguistic imprint to the formation of the present day Bangladeshi identity. Not only that
their cultures remained even after their departure, often many of their descendants are found to
spread clans, for example, the local Kutti community in old Dhaka using Urdu as their home lan-
guage, or the Urdu speaking refugees from India located in the Bihari Camps, who came to stay
in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) after 1947 but could not leave the country after she got her
independence from Pakistan in 1971. Presently, nearly one million Rohingyas with their unique
culture and language have been staying at the Chittagong Hill Tracts for the last two years and it
is not certain when they are going to be rehabilitated to their own country, Burma.
Alongside the historical and political appraisal, the linguistic landscapes of the country at pre-
sent require to be revisited from both technological advancement and encroachment. Because
of the rapid mushrooming of web 2.0 and 3.0 technologies, the geographical boundaries among
the cultures and languages are becoming blurred (Sultana, 2019). People using these technolo-
gies are using English with all its four skills simultaneously, without being aware of or bothered
by the linguistically politically pertinent issues like accuracy, standard, variety, etc. Boundaries of
language and communication are becoming more flexible, fluid, multimodal, and multi-semiotic
(Sultana, 2015). Such societal realities are at the backdrop of our English classes that call for the
attention of the educators.
Our learners from different streams (e.g., Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics, Business, Humanities, English and Bangla) and segments (e.g., literate illiterate,
young and old) are the inhabitants of their specific locales (i.e., village, community, city, cap-
ital, country, continent) and the globe rather concomitantly. Therefore, the factors seeming
to be at play are the actual and/or virtual realities (once again dichotomous positioning of
these realities are becoming hard to define), impregnated with social, capitalistic, colonial, and
technological tints. The complex process of forming identity, informed by diverse emerging
identities in Bangladesh cannot have the luxury to do away with the ‘ready-made instrument’
(Gupta, 1999), i.e., English that they have; the tug of war seems to be around the illegitimate
positioning of English versus other languages used in the (actual/virtual) territory/-ies at
backdrop of tints mentioned above. Part Five of this book deals with this issue of language
teaching and construction of identity and offers a complex but vibrant account of the arche-
typal predicament of the people of Bangladesh who have been struggling with negotiating
their identity in terms of the medium of instructions, pronunciation, gender, and other socio-
economic considerations.
415
The multilingual pluralities in Bangladeshi linguistic landscapes have not been championed
in the educational policies by several education commissions/committees. Languages are rather
posited contestably against each other in different streams, forms, and versions of education,
e.g. Madrasa education, English medium education, mainstream Bangla medium education, or
English version education. The education system thus addresses the multilingual plurality, in
a deleteriously interpretive manner, applying reductionist approach. In a way the educational
practices contradicts with the ecology of languages. Pattanayak (1988), once on the issue of
Indian multilinguality, commented,
Many languages are like petals of a lotus. Many languages form a national mosaic. If
some petals wither and fall off or some chips are displaced from the mosaic, then the
lotus and the mosaic look ugly.With the death of languages, the country will be poorer.
(p. 379)
The necessity of domain specific use of different languages, the significance of the non-
threatening coexistence of different languages and the beauty of multilingual (virtual) reality
need to be realised so that the complementary roles and functions of the existing languages in
the country can be succinctly demarcated and appreciated.
Legitimisation of local English Language pedagogy at the global level

Part Six contains chapters focusing on English language teacher development and issues related
to the role of English as a gatekeeper to the highway to sustainable economic development.
However, the present perceptions and practices of English-in-education including issues like
introducing it from Class I, offering English version instructions of other subjects (e.g. science,
social science), rapid spread of run-of-the-mill English medium schools, and emergence of pri-
vate universes with EMI, its role in gate keeping high-stakes tests, along with the role of Bangla
in the creation of the nation-state, the intrusion of virtual life into our actual life and vice versa,
the strength of the local languages and exploring or further strengthening their possibilities
require to be revisited in the light of the cutting edge pedagogical theories and practices existent
at the global and local levels. Our ELT is characterised by densely populated classrooms that
are crammed with immovable furniture (Yasmeen, 2005), teaching of English through Bangla,
use of translation and structures in classes, untrained-to-poorly-trained teachers (Chowdhury &
Farooqui, 2011; Haider & Chowdhury, 2012; Kabir, 2012), rote-learning (Begum & Farooqui,
2008), negligence towards listening and speaking skills (Ali, Hamid, & Hardy, 2018), donor-
funded agencies and their dominance in shaping the national education policy and practices
(Hamid & Rahman, 2019), students from financially unstable background, often affected by nat-
ural calamities or political disasters, change of curriculum because of the change of governments,
and a desperate craving for a better future with a white collar job.
These local realities are further compounded by the growing influence of global shifts in the
way teaching and learning and professional development are conceptualised in recent years. For
example, in the last two decades, there has been a gradual shift from the concept of teachers’
professional development to that of professional learning, which takes into account the question of
empowering teachers by acknowledging their voices and perspectives (Berry, Loughran, Smith,
& Lindsay, 2009).Thus, our future research into English language teachers’ professional growth
should mark a shift in focus from professional development to professional learning, which goes
beyond the considerations of centrally designed, sometimes decontextualised, one shot teacher
development programmes and gives emphasis on practices that are research based, sustained
416
Conclusion
over time, relevant to specific school context and supported by professional learning commu-
nities and collaboration (Loughran, cited in Loughran and Berry, 2011). Arifa Rahman in this
Handbook highlights the importance of teachers’ professional communities such as Teachers’
Association in offering a more sustainable framework for ensuring Bangladeshi English lan-
guage teachers’ collaborative professional learning opportunities. Nevertheless, future research
in teachers’ professional learning must also investigate the nature of teachers’ professional
knowledge in order to understand how teachers conceptualise and develop their ‘knowledge
of practice’ (Loughran & Berry, 2011), particularly in Bangladesh where English language
teaching is often confronted by students’ low achievements, wide disparity in learning oppor-
tunities, and teachers’ low self-esteem and motivation (Power, Shaheen, Solly, Woodward, &
Burton, 2012).
Conclusion
Despite the call for a growing awareness to the local realities, and the need for empowering the
local practitioners’ voices to frame and fabricate the most suitable ways to address their develop-
mental needs, there is the urge to adapt and embrace the global priorities that have been considered
instrumental for ensuring 21st century learning and ensuring quality education (SDG 4)
by 2030. We are living in a time when school curricula are becoming more aware of developing
generic competencies which are seen as “necessary for employability and social capacity in soci-
etal contexts that are now inherently complex in terms of changeability and uncertainty” (Fensha,
2011, p. 295). It is high time that our educational research initiatives were directed to investigate
the nature and means of integrating English language teaching and learning to the digital literacy
competencies including the core skills of Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical
thinking, Information literacy, Problem-solving, and Socio-emotional skills (Silber-Varod, Eshet-
Alkalai, & Geri, 2019). Hence, our educationists need to thoroughly take into reconsideration
the local educational realities as well as the global waves of changes while ensuring the participa-
tion of the stakeholders of ELE into policy making and implementing. Thus, our future research
efforts may be intrigued by the aspirations and commitments to ensuring quality, equitable,
inclusive, and lifelong education in a sensible and additive manner so that the process of identity
formation of the stakeholders of ELE runs smooth, eliminating elements of self-/contradiction,
and the stakeholders remain both Bangalee and global convergently.
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419
INDEX
Note: Page numbers in italics and bold refer to approach 190; techniques of teaching–learning
figures and tables respectively. 195–199; translation–adaptation method
190–191; see also literature
Abedin, Z. 306 Animal Farm (Orwell) 221
academic English (AE) education: data analysis 100; Anwar, Arif 192
data collection 100; pedagogic model for 98–99; Applied Linguistics xxvii–xxviii, 198, 215, 288,
research-based, at EFL universities 96–108; 290, 328, 335, 360, 399
research methodology 99, 99–100; and RIT 101, Arnoldian–Leavisite humanism 173
101–103, 102; scope of 96 Asadullah, M. N. 300–301
academic support and enhancement facility Ashcroft, B. 19
106–107 Asian Development Bank (ADB) 27, 131, 371, 373,
acceptance and authority 273 376
Aga Khan Examination Board 350 assessment: as dynamic of curriculum 9; high-stake
Ahsan, S. A. 178 tests 116; role in teaching and learning 132–135;
Akbari, R. 151 SSC examination 132; teacher training in
Alam, F. 180, 183 assessment literacy 126; training on 124; unfair
Al Amin, M. 118 122; Washback and impact 116–117; washback
Alderson, J. C. 117, 133, 151 studies 117–118
Alexander, L. G. 52 As You Like It (Shakespeare) 188, 210
Ali, C. M. 167 authenticity, and language teaching 204–205
alienation, intergroup 281–282 authority and acceptance 273
Alsheikh, A. 341 autoethnographical perspective on ELT: my
The Alternative Syllabus in English for Classes VI,VII story as a musafir 328–335; overview 327–328;
& VII (Mackin) 50–51 reflecting on the musafir life 335–336
Amar Bois 196 autoethnography 360; defined 327; ideology and
Amir, A. 65 328; prejudice and 328; self-indulgence and 328
Amruthraj, R. M. 298, 300–301 Awami League 37
analysis of variance (ANOVA) 86 Azadi, G. 133
analytic–linguistic approach 199
Anderson, B. 35, 292 Babcock, R. D. 387
Andrews, S. 133 Bachman, L. F. 151
Anglicism 20 Bahman, M. 300, 303
Anglophone literatures: in Bangladeshi English Bailey, K. M. 117
language classroom 186–200; creative–expressive Baldauf, R. B., Jr. 19
method 191; Englishes 191–193; English for Today Ball, S. J. 17
(EfT) 188–189; genres 193; overview 186–187; Bangalee/Bangladeshi nationalism 34–37, 271;
skills 193–195; task-based communicative see also nationalism
420
Index
Bangladesh: education system reform 51; ELEP in Blake, W. 211

19–28; ELT shaping in 46–58; ELT Task Force Block, D. 268, 328
51–52; English language assessment in 115–127; Blumberg, R. L. 301
overview 1 BM other, social class identity of 250–252
Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information BM self, social class identity of 250
and Statistics 176 Bonacina, F. 64–65
Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) 313, 334 Borsboom, D. 151
Bangladesh Education Commission 179 Bose, Buddhadeva 178
Bangladesh Education Policy 149 Bourdieu, P. 6, 38, 242–243, 249, 271, 273–274,
Bangladesh English Language Teachers Association 284, 286, 304, 328; on academic institutions 274;
(BELTA) 342, 343–352; Central Executive on capital 38, 252; on ‘cultural capital’ 38, 273;
Committee 344; financial management 344; habitus 242–243, 252, 261; and non-monetary
organisational management 343; reciprocity forms of capitals 242; and social class 242–243,
between centre and chapters/branches 345 249, 273
Bangladesh Examination Development Unit of Bowe, R. 17
Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Bowers, R. 182
(BISE) 122, 126, 150 Bowles, S. 274
Bangladeshi MOI context 243–252; analysing BRAC University 378
LTE and Facebook data 246; datasets 244–246; British Council (BC) xxvii, 5, 22, 27, 182, 286, 344,
overview 243–244; social class identity, discursive 346–347, 349, 351–352, 371, 374, 399, 409, 413
construction of 246–252 British Empire 20, 177, 359
Bangla language: and emotional attachment of British India 50
Bangladeshi speakers 35; importance of 179–181; Britzman, D. P. 324
influence in social and business communication Bruner, J. S. 203
98; legitimisation in East Pakistan 4; and national Burke, P. J. 316
language-in-education planning 33; see also Burmese Days (Orwell) 213
language Burroughs, Edgar Rice 189
Bangla Procholon Ain (Bangla Implementation business communication: Bangla or Bengali in 98;
Act) 24 intercultural 392; international 382, 387, 390;
Banglar Mookh (Das) 188 RMG 366, 388–391, 393
Barkhuizen, G. 314 Byron, Lord 212
Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS)
203–204, 204 Calcutta Madrasa 48
Batstone, R. 388 Cambridge Education (Lead) 374
Bauman, Z. 262 Campbell, J. S. 383
BBC Media Action 53, 374 Canadian International Development Agency 27
Beamer, L. 386 Canagarajah, A. S. 206, 293
BELF communicative competence 383–385 Canale, M. 203, 383
BELF competence for professional communication capital: cultural 38, 242, 247, 249, 273–274,
in RMG industry: BELF communicative 285–286, 333; defined 242; economic 242, 247,
competence 383–385; fluency 386–388; general 249–250, 261, 271; human 369–379; linguistic
vocabulary 390–391; grammatical knowledge 235, 258, 271, 274, 294, 365, 378; non-monetary
and skills 388–390; methodology 385–386; forms of 242; social 38, 242–243, 249; symbolic
overview 382–383; pronunciation and accent 242, 249, 251, 258, 261, 271, 285–286, 294
391–392; technical terms 391; vocabulary and Carey, W. 46–47
technical terms 390–391 Carter, A. R. 205, 211
‘BELF global communicative competence’ 382 Carter, R. 206
BELTA Journal 349 caste system 272
Bengal Renaissance movement 36 ‘The Cat in the Rain’ (Hemingway) 223
Bernstein, B. 328 certainty judgement tasks 89
Best Practices in ELT:Voices from the Classroom 349 Chace, W. 175, 181
Bhabha, H. K. 412 Chakrabarty, D. 178
Bhasha Andolon 35 Chapman, D. W. 134
Bhatia, A. 257 characterisation 306–310
Bilingualism with Special Reference to Bengal 48 The Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson) 212
Binder, C. 388 Charnock, Job 46
Bizell, P. 181 Chen, I. C. J. 133
421
Index
Cheng, L. 117 of 230–234; overview 219–220; significance

Chiswick, B. R. 370 for teaching English language and literature
choice of words 305–306 220–222
Chomsky, N. 203, 383 Content-Based Instruction (CBI) 220
Chowdhury, D. 287 context of policy influences 17–19; big picture of
Chowdhury, M. 178 ELEP in Bangladesh 25–28; infrastructure of
Chowdhury, N. 414 ELEP in Bangladesh 19–25
Chowdhury, R. 180, 361, 375 contextual factors: academic support and
Chowdhury, U. R. 306 enhancement facility 106–107; graduate
Chua, C. S. K. 19 employability 105–106; learning culture 104–105;
Clapham, C. 151 research informed teaching (RIT) 103–107
Clarke,V. 314 conventional schemata: described 203; vs. literary
classroom teaching: washback effect on 136–137; schemata 203
see also teaching conversation analytic (CA) approach 64
Clive, Robert 47 Cook, G. 358–359, 361
code-meshing 287–288, 292–294 Coombe, C. 341, 349
code-mixing 292–294 Corbin, J. 317
code-switching 287–288 Coupland, N. 272
Coetzee, J. M. 173, 414 creative–expressive method 191
cognition, defined 222 critical–affective pedagogy 187, 189, 199–200;
Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency see also Anglophone literatures
(CALP) 203–204, 204 ‘critical pedagogy’ 362
Coll, R. 357 Crocker, L. 134
Collie, J. 206 Cruz, J. H. R. 207
colonialism: hegemony of English and spectre of Crystal, D. 285, 293
286–287; influence and ELT 20–22 cultural capital 38, 242, 247, 249, 273–274,
Common European Framework of Reference 285–286, 333
(CEFR) 220 The cultural politics of English as an international
communication: context-embedded 203–204; language (Pennycook) 411
context-reduced 203–204; defined 222; cultural suitability, and language teaching 204–205
international 284; oral 388–390 culture: capitalistic consumerist 251; defined 222;
Communicative Approach to Language global 244, 266; Indian 347; Iranian 303; local
Teaching 52 epistemic 287; Muslim 347; patriarchal social
communicative competence (CC) 203; defined 308; Western 244, 261
372; model of global CCs in business context Cummins, J. 203
384 curriculum: conceptualising 356–357; of ELTE
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 25, 358; theorising 357–358
27–28, 54–57; and communicative competence Curriculum Committee 22
93; English for human capital development curriculum of English language teacher education:
and 372–373; introduction of 82; and literature analytical framework 358–359; autoethnographic
202–205 look 360–361; conceptualising curriculum
Community of Practice Theory 282n2, 315, 323 356–357; curriculum of ELTE 358, 360–361;
conceptualisation of social class 242–243 language and education in Bangladesh 359–360;
conceptualising curriculum 356–357 Morgan’s critical approach to ELT 361–365;
congruence in-group 280–281 overview 356; theorising curriculum 357–358
construction of others 256–258 curriculum reductionism 133, 136
Contemporary South Asian Writings in English and
Modern Fiction 222 The Daily Star (TDS) 244
content, defined 222 Dalton-Puffer, C. 219
Content and Language Integrated Learning Das, J. 188, 211
(CLIL) 10, 219; development of language skills Das, S. 118
through 224–227; development of vocabulary Daskalovska, N. 207
through 227–228; enhancement of literary data collection 119
content knowledge 228–229; implications of Davidson, F. 151
the findings 234–236; learners’ appreciation Day, C. 314
and interest in 229–230; methodology and data DeKeyser, R. M. 91
collection procedure 222–224; negative impacts denotational characterisations 258, 261
422
Index
Department for International Development English for human capital development 371–373;
(DFID) of the British government 371, 373 in Bangladesh 373–378; and CLT 372–373;
Dewey, J. 356 globalisation and 370–371; higher education
DFID (Department for International reform for human capital development 377–378;
Development) 180, 376 human capital and languages 370; neoliberalism
Dickens, C. 329 and 370–371; overview 369–370; secondary
Dickinson, E. 212 education reform and 376–377
digitisation 184 English for Today: Classes XI–XII & Alim 202
Dimova,V. 207 English for Today (EfT) of Class V 298
Direct Method, of teaching 49 ‘English for Today’ series 377
Directorate of Secondary and Higher English for Today (EfT) textbooks 9, 130, 131, 132,
Education 126 137, 174, 187; Anglophone literatures 188–189;
discourse competence 196, 383 of Bangladeshi non-Bangla literatures 193;
Disgrace (Coetzee) 173 critical examination of 209–213; grammar skills
domestic role 310 195; linguistic contemporaneity 192; listening
Dornyei, Z. 302–303 skills 193–194; pronunciation skills 195; reading
Doughty, C. 91 skills 194; speaking skills 194; vocabulary skills
Dream (Lawrence) 213 194–195; writing skills 194
Du-Babcock, B. 387 English Grammatical Structure 52
Duff, A. 48 English in Action (EIA) 53–55, 56, 397, 399;
Dylan, B. 175–176 in Bangladesh xxiv–xxvi; funding 180–183;
introduction of 131, 374–376; ‘organised
Eastern religious values 267 hypocrisy’ in 184n5; School Component, 54
East India Company (EIC) 2, 20, 46–47, 183 English is the medium of instruction (EMI) 219
East Pakistan 3–4, 21; Bangla language English language: brief historical background of
legitimisation 4; educational reforms 50; tension 400–401; chronological summary of 23; context
with West Pakistan 21; see also Bangladesh of development and 400–401; and development
economic capital 242, 247, 249–250, 261, 271 398–399; for economic development 11–12,
economics of language 370 401–402; education, for world’s poor xxvi;
Edgeworth, Maria 188 in the education system in Bangladesh 5–7;
education see academic English (AE) education; in ESL/EFL contexts 287; hegemony of, and
research-based (AE) education spectre of colonialism 286–287; for international
Educational Testing Service 151–152 development in rural Bangladesh 401–402;
Edwards, J. 313 learning and construction of identity 10–11;
Effiong, O. 341 marginalisation of 22–24; as medium for
Eisner, E. 356, 358 international communication xxv–xxvi; in
Elbow, P. 181–182 multilingual ecology of Bangladesh 7–8; and
Eliot, T. S. 182 national language-in-education planning 33;
Elizabeth I, Queen 46 pedagogical practices, assessment, and testing
Elkholy, R. K. 300, 303 8–9; in secondary education in Bangladesh
Ellis, C. 360 130–131, 132; significance of CLIL for teaching
ELT Improvement Project (ELTIP) 52–53, 55–56, 220–222; status in the academia and broader
131, 174, 374, 401 society 290–292; studies in Bangladesh 177–179
ELT Journal 341 English language assessment: background 115–116;
EM other, social class identity of 248–249 in Bangladesh 115–127; knowledge inadequacy
EM self, social class identity of 246–247 150; literature review 116–118; overview 115;
England, K. 342, 345, 371 SSC 132
English as a business lingua franca (EBLF) 382 English language education (ELE): in Bangladesh
English as a foreign language (EFL): construction 2–7; and ecological approach 27; in independent
of professional identity as teacher of 320–321; Bangladesh (1971 to date) 4–5; in the Indian
place of English in 287; universities, research- subcontinent (1835–1947) 2–3; during the
based academic English education at 96–108 Pakistani period (1947–1971) 3–4; politico-
English as a lingua franca (ELF) 382 cultural antagonisms and construction of identity
English as Second Language (ESL) 79n1, 182 414–416; (re-)localising 412–413; socio-economic
English-based colonial education 241 antagonisms and construction of identity
English education: and development aid in 414–416; techno-ideological antagonisms and
Bangladesh 401; social suspicion of 244 construction of identity 414–416
423
Index
English language education policy (ELEP) 7, interpretation 151; reliability 151–152; SSC
17–18; big picture in Bangladesh 25–28; English test, Paper I, 2017 153–166, 154–159,
chronological summary of 23; infrastructure, in 160–165; test validation theory and methods
Bangladesh 19–25 152; see also examinations
English language learning: assessment see
assessment; factors causing washback 137–138; Fahim, A. K. 300–301
metacognitive approach 189; methodology Fairclough, N. 246
135–136; overview 130; secondary education in Fanon, F. 291
Bangladesh 130–131, 132; washback effect on Farooqui, S. 131
classroom teaching 136–137 fast, defined 261
English language teacher education (ELTE) 356; Ferdaush, J. 310
autoethnographic look 360–361; curriculum of fill-in-the-blanks task 88, 92
358, 360–361 First Language (L1) 83, 93
English Language Teacher Education and Development firstness 304–305
358 fluency 386–388
English Language Teaching (ELT) 299; analytical Focus on Form (FonF) procedure 19, 82, 83
framework 358–359; colonialism influences Ford Foundation 22
20–22; conceptualising curriculum 356–357; form–meaning mapping 91
crisis situation in Bangladesh 55–57; curriculum Fort William College 47
of ELTE 358, 360–361; delinking xxvi–xxvii; Foucault, M. 298
empirical studies 130; and globalisation 24–25; Freire, P. 6, 362
goal of xxvii; infrastructure in Bangladesh 19, Friends in Village Development in Bangladesh
19–25; language and education in Bangladesh (FIVDB) 53, 375
359–360; vs. literature 9–10; Morgan’s critical Frost, Robert 211
approach to 361–365; and nationalism 22–24; Fulcher, G. 151
shaping in Bangladesh 46–58; theorising Fullilove, J. 133
curriculum 357–358
English Language Teaching Improvement Project Gafaranga, J. 64–65
(ELTIP) see ELT Improvement Project (ELTIP) Gal, S. 243
‘English Medium Students vs. Bangla Medium Garcia, O. 287
Students’ group 244 Garfinkel, H. 66, 290
English teacher education 11–12; provision of “garments’ language” 391
trainings for 53 Gee, J. P. 313
enhancement of literary content knowledge gender equity, and role of textbook 299
228–229 gender equity in primary level English language
epistemic modalisation of events 261 textbook: characterisation 306–310; choice of
Ericsson 391 words 305–306; description of data from EfT
‘Ericsson English’ 391 for Class V 303–306; domestic role 310; firstness
Ershad, Hussein Mohammad 37 304–305; gender equity and role of textbook
The ESL Classroom:Teaching, Critical Practice, and 299; gender representations in textbooks 299–
Community Development (Morgan) 362 302; interpretation of data from EfT for Class
ESL schools: language policy in Bangladesh 63; V 303–306; methodology 302–303; negligence
language policy of 78 of women 306; overview 298–299; unequal
ethnolinguistic identity, and Bangladeshi treatment in occupation 307–309; use of nouns
nationalism 42 and pronouns 303–304; visibility of men and
ethnomethodology 66 women 307
European Union 220 gender representations in textbooks 299–302
examinations: anxiety before 120–121; and English general vocabulary 390–391
learning 120–123, 125; factors influencing the genres, Anglophone literatures 193
impact of 134–135; preparation strategies 123; Gharbavi, A. 306, 308
reform 127; results impact 122–123; unfair Gholami, R. 133
assessment of 122; see also external high-stake Gintis, H. 274
examinations Giroux, H. A. 357
exam slaving 133–134 globalisation: and English for human capital
external-facing approach, for education 104–105 370–371; influence and ELT 24–25
external high-stake examinations: limitations Global North xxv
150–151; methodology 152, 152–153; proper Global South xxv
424
Index
Gnawali, L. 353 higher education reform for human capital

Goffman, E. 66 development 377–378
Gold, A. 17 Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC)
government college teachers in Bangladesh: examination 9, 115, 122
conceptual framework 315–316; high-stake tests 116
conceptualisation of professional identity historical bonafides of English Language Education
318–319; construction of professional identity in Bangladesh 412
as an EFL teacher 320–321; identity, its features Holliday, A. 57
and construction 313–315; identity construction Hoque, M. E. 117
of 312–325; methodology 316–317; overview Hornby Trust 352
312–313; from personal to professional identity human capital 369–379; development see human
313–315; professional identity influencing capital development; and languages 370
professional performance 321–323; professional Human Capital Approach 26
performance of 312–325; research aims and human capital development: English for 371–373;
questions 316 English for human capital development and
Government of India Act of 1858 2 CLT 372–373; globalisation, neoliberalism,
graduate employability 105–106 and English for human capital 370–371;
grammar: of decoloniality xxvii–xxviii; skills and higher education reform for 377–378; human
EfT 194; teaching–learning techniques 199 capital and languages 370; overview 369–370;
grammar tasks 88, 88–89 secondary education reform for 376–377
Grammar Translation Method (GTM) 50, 174–175 human capital theory (HCT) 369, 371
grammatical competence 383 Hume, A. 357
grammatical knowledge and skills 388–390 Hyland, K. 362
Graves, K. 358 Hymes, D. 372, 383
Great Expectations (Dickens) 329–330
Greek Cypriot Dialects (GCDs) 256 IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of
Greek Cypriots 256 English as a Foreign Language) 341, 345
Green, A. 117, 133, 138 Ibrahim, A. 256, 262
Greenwood, J. 118 identity: in Bangladesh 34–37; Community of
Griffiths, G. 19 Practice Theory 315; defined 313; Edwards on
group identity 34 313; ethnolinguistic 42; features and construction
guidebooks 137 313–315; Gee on 313; national 34; and national
Gulf War 365 language-in-education planning 34–37; from
Gulliver’s Travels (Swift) 188, 213 personal to professional identity 313–315
‘identity-as-process’ 34
Haider, M. Z. 167 identity construction: construction of professional
Hall, M. 298 identity as an EFL teacher 320–321; of
Hall, S. 34, 263 government college teachers in Bangladesh
Hamid, M. O. 6, 26, 139, 290 312–325; from personal to professional identity
Hamlet (Shakespeare) 332 313–315; process and features 315; professional
Hamp-Lyons, L. 116 identity influencing professional performance
The Handbook of World Englishes 289 321–323; teachers’ conceptualisation of their
Haq, K. 414 professional identity 318–319
Haq, S. S. 178 identity theory of image-text 324
Haque, K. 222 ideologies of English as a language for economic
hard skills 370 development: Beth’s narrative of English and
Hare, David 48 development 399; brief historical background
Hartman, P. L. 300, 304, 306–307 of English in Bangladesh 400–401; case study of
Hartog, P. 48 migrant workers from Bangladesh 402; context
Hassan, K. M. 214 of 400–401; English and development 398–399;
Hastings, Warren 48 English as language for international development
Healey, M. 97 401–402; English education and development
hegemony of English and spectre of colonialism aid 401; overview 397–398; personal reflections
286–287 398–399; Qumrul’s reflection on role of English
Hemingway, Ernest 212, 223 in development 399; research on 401–402; socio-
Higher Education Quality Enhancement Project political and linguistic context of Bangladesh 400;
(HEQEP) 377 theoretical framework 400
425
Index
I Died For Beauty (Dickinson) 212 Lahiri, J. 222

illocutionary competence 196 The Lake Isle of Innisfree (Yeats) 212
image-text concept 316 Lamb, T. 354
‘imagined community’ 257, 292 language: and education in Bangladesh 359–
Imam, S. R. 268, 359, 364 360; human capital and 370; ideology and
‘implied readers’ 175 development 400; instrumentalist function of 39;
impressionistic method 209 non-instrumental function of 39; see also Bangla
Inceoglu, S. 84, 91 language; English language
The Independent (TI) 244 language alternation: defined 64; interaction-
in-group congruence 280–281 oriented studies on 64–65; medium compliant
‘institutional support’ 320 mode of teaching 67–70; minimal compliant
interaction-oriented studies on language mode of teaching 72–76; semi-compliant
alternation 64–65 medium mode of teaching 70–72
intergroup alienation 281–282 ‘language-as-problem’ orientation 38
interlingual transaction 192–193 ‘language-as-resource’ perspective 38
International Monetary Fund (IMF) 371 ‘language-as-right perspective’ 38
‘Interpreter of Maladies’ (Lahiri) 222 language-in-education planning see national
intuitive–imitative approach 199 language-in-education planning
Irvine, J. T. 243 language learning see English language learning
Islam, K. N. 186 Language Movement of 1952 21, 24, 35, 271, 359,
Islam, K. M. M. 300–301 400
Islam, S. N. 306 language policy: categories 63–64; ESL
schools 63
Jahan, A. 84, 91, 92 language skills: development of, through CLIL in
JALT (Japan Association of Language Teaching) 341 literature classes 224–227
James-Wilson, S. 314 Language Teacher Associations in professional
Jefferson, G. 66 development: BELTA 343–352; LTAs 343–352;
Jenkins, A. 97 NELTA 343–352; overview 341–342, 342–343;
Jenkins, J. 289, 383, 391 realities and potential 353; SPELT 343–352; way
Jenks, C. 257 forward 353–354
Jinnah, M. A. 3 Language Teachers Associations (LTAs): BELTA
Jobs, Steve 184 343–352; benefits 348–352; compositional
‘Joi Bangla’ 37 factors 344–348; conferences 349; contextual
Judd, E. L. 300, 304, 306–307 factors 345; cultural factors 347; economic
factors 346–347; geographical factors 345;
Kabir, A. 180 involvement in state educational initiatives
Kachru, B. B. 175, 287, 289 350; membership 347–348; NELTA 343–352;
Kankaanranta, A. 383–384, 390, 391–392 networking initiatives 351–352; policy dialogue
Kaur, M. 377 and advocacy 351; political factors 346; products
‘khaet’ vs. ‘fast’ others: construction of others 256– and services 348–349; publications 349; realities
258; overview 255–256; research design 258–267 and potential 353; robustness and frequency of
Khan, H. R. 214–215 activities 352; services through external support
Khan, M. J. A. 47 352; skills development support and teacher
Khan, R. 118, 349, 351 training to private sector 350–351; SPELT
Khatib, M. 224 343–352; teacher-teaching development
Kibria, N. 213 activities 349–350
Kington, A. 314 language teaching (LT): literature in 202–216;
Kirkpatrick, A. 289 myths and realities of using literature in 208,
Kormos, J. 84, 91, 92 208–209; overview 202; pros and cons of using
Kramsch, C. 257 literature for 206–208; see also teaching
Krashen, S. 204 ‘late-modernity’ 272
Kudrat-i-Khuda Education Commission Lave, J. 313, 315
Report 51 Lawrence, D. H. 213
Kumaravadivelu, B. xxviii Lazar, G. 206
learner-centred approach 57
LaBrozzi, R. M. 84 learners’ appreciation and interest in CLIL in
LaDousa, C. 243 literature class 229–230
426
Index
learning: assessment role in 132–135; culture Manjarres, N. B. 134

104–105; intricate values 92; see also English Manush (Islam) 186
language learning Marsh, E. E. 302
Lee, J. F. K. 299 Maugham, W. S. 209
Lee, S.-K. 84, 93 MC comprehension 87
Legitimate Peripheral Participation theory 315 McGinley, K. 214
legitimisation of local English Language pedagogy McGinley, R. 214
at global level 416–417 Medium of Classroom Instruction 64, 65
Le Ha, P. 361 Medium of Instruction 64–65
Lehmann, I. J. 151 Mehrens, W. A. 151
Liberation War 24, 271 Mellenbergh, G. J. 151
Lin, A. M.Y. 329 members’ methods 66
Lin,Y. J. 299 Memoirs of Dacca University 1947–1951 (Stock) 177,
linguistic capital 235, 258, 271, 274, 294, 365, 378 190, 213
‘linguistic communism’ 365 men, visibility of 307
linguistic contemporaneity 192 The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare) 188, 192
‘linguistic genocide’ 39 Messick, S. 117, 151
‘linguistic imperialism’ 21 metacognitive approach, and language
Linguistic Imperialism (Phillipson) 182 learning 189
‘linguistic instrumentalism’ 39–40 metalinguistic awareness 89, 91
listening: skills and EfT 193–194; teaching–learning Meyerhoff, M. 272, 281
techniques 196 Mignolo, W. xxviii
literary content knowledge, enhancement of 228–229 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 28, 371,
literary schemata: vs. conventional schemata 203; 375
described 203 Miller, P. W. 370
literary texts 182; communicative use of 205; Mills, S. 300, 305
three-model approach 206 Minarechova, M. 150
literature: Anglophone 186–200; vs. ELT 9–10; Ministry of Education (Bangladesh) 115, 126
issues related to CLT regarding 202–205; for Mohanty, A. K. 415
language learning, and metacognitive approach Mojay Mojay Shekha (Learning with Fun) 375
189; in language teaching 202–216; nonpolitical Monthly e-Bulletin 349
178; popular culture as 175–176; pros and cons Morgan, B. 362–365; critical approach to ELT
of using for language teaching 206–208; review 361–365
116–118; see also Bangla language; English Motha, S. xxvii
language Mousavi, S. A. 306, 309
literature classes: development of language skills Mujib, S. 37
through CLIL in 224–227; development of Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) 155,
vocabulary through CLIL in 227–228; learners’ 166–167
appreciation and interest in CLIL in 229–230; Munby, J. 383
negative impacts of CLIL in 230–234 “Muslims in Motion: Islam and National Identity
Loewen, S. 84, 91 in the Bangladeshi Diaspora” (Kibria) 213
Long, N. M. 205 ‘My Oedipus Complex’ (O’Conner) 223
Lou, J. 257
Louhiala-Salminen, L. 383–384, 391 Naik, P. R. 377
LTE: analysing 246; as a literary practice 244–245 National Academy for Educational Management
Lu, C. L. 299 (NAEM) 313
The Luncheon (Maugham) 209 National Curriculum and Syllabus Committee
Lurie, D. 414 (NCSC) 52
Luxia, Q. 133, 134 National Curriculum and Textbook Board
(NCTB) 9, 119, 122, 126, 150, 174, 187, 298,
Macaulay, T. 20, 412 299
Macbeth (Shakespeare) 186 National Curriculum of English 25
MacDonald, M. 53 National Curriculum Policy 115
Mackin, R. 50 National Education Policy 33, 63, 149
Mahboob, A. 342, 345 nationalism: in Bangladesh 34–37; influence and
Maley, A. 205, 206 ELT 22–24; and national language-in-education
Maniruzzaman, M. 117 planning 34–37
427
Index
national language-in-education planning: in personal identity: construction of 313–315; features

Bangladesh 33–34; framework 38–42; and of 313–315
identity 34–37; integrative model of 41; and Phan, H. L. L. xxvii–xxviii
nationalism 34–37 Phillipson, R. 19, 21, 27, 182, 291
negative impacts of CLIL in literature classes Pinar, W. 358
230–234 Planken, B. 384, 390, 392
negligence of women 306 Podder, R. 118
neoliberalism, and English for human capital policy trajectory framework 18, 18–19
370–371 Popham, W. J. 134
Nepal English Language Teachers Association popular culture as literature 175–176
(NELTA) 342, 343–352; American Embassy positioning 258
346; British Council 346; British Embassy 346; power 274, 298; economic 247, 273; Foucauldian
central executive committee 344; financial 298; imaginative 206; repressive or productive
management 344; organisational management 302–303
344; reciprocity between centre and chapters/ ‘power processes’ 273
branches 345 private tuition, and English learning 123–124,
New Method Series Readers 50 137
Ngu~ gI~ wa Thiong’o 23 private universities 173–174, 285–286
Ngunjiri, F. W. 328 Private University Act 173, 284
nonpolitical literature 178 private university students’ approach towards
note-taking 87, 87 EMI: code-mixing, code-meshing, and/or
noticing question tasks 87–88, 88 translanguaging 292–294; code-switching,
nouns, use of 303–304 code-meshing, and translanguaging 287–288;
constructing knowledge 292–294; hegemony
occupation, unequal treatment in 307–309 of English and spectre of colonialism 286–287;
O’Conner, F. 223 overview 284–285; place of English in ESL/EFL
‘Ode on the Lungi’ (Haque) 222 contexts 287; ‘privilege badge’ 290–292; PUs in
The Old Man at the Bridge (Hemingway) 212 Bangladesh 285–286; research design 288–289;
Open University, United Kingdom 182, 374, 399 status of English in academia and broader society
oral-based CLT 57 290–292
Organisation of Economic Cooperation and professional attributes 320
Development (OECD) 370 professional development 416; and BELTA
Orientalism 20 343–352; English skills development support
Orwell, G. 213, 221 350–351; involvement in state educational
Osland, G. E. 386 initiatives 350; and LTAs 341–354; and NELTA
others, construction of 256–258 343–352; networking initiatives 351–352;
‘Out, Out-’ (Frost) 211 policy dialogue and advocacy 351; products
Outline of a Theory of Practice (Bourdieu) 271 and services 348–349; realities and potential
353; robustness and frequency of activities 352;
Padwad, A. 347 services through external support 352; and
Pakistan: and SPELT 343, 343–347, 350–353; Urdu SPELT 343–352; teacher-teaching development
as national language in 21; women in 301 activities 349–350; teacher training to private
Pandian, A. 138, 377 sector 350–351; way forward 353–354
parallel exam material 133–134 professional identity: as an EFL teacher 320–321;
Paran, A. 347 influencing professional performance 321–323;
Paranjape, M. R. 21 its features and construction 313–315; teachers’
Pardee, F. S. 184 conceptualisation of 318–319
Parkinson, B. 206 professional performance: of government college
Passeron, J.-C. 6, 304 teachers in Bangladesh 312–325; professional
Pattanayak, D. P. 416 identity influencing 321–323
Pavlenko, A. 258 pronouns, use of 303–304
pedagogical competencies 320 pronunciation: and accent 391–392; skills
pedagogical concern vis-à-vis teaching English and EfT 194; teaching–learning techniques
through literature 413–414 198–199
Pennycook, A. 19, 20–21, 25, 27, 411–412, 414
People’s Republic of Bangladesh see Bangladesh Qiufang, W. 390
Perlof, M. 181 qualitative analysis of data 89–90
428
Index
Rahaman, A. 214–215 Seargeant, P. 397

Rahimi, A. 300, 303 Secondary Education Quality and Access
Rahman, A. 118, 268 Enhancement Project 401
Rahman, A. M. M. H. 214 secondary education reform for human capital
Rahman, K. M. 310 development 376–377
Rahman, M. 138 Secondary Education Sector Development Project
Rahman, M. M. 377 (SESDP) 131, 376
Rahman, S. 178, 268 Secondary Education Sector Improvement Project
Rahman, S. M. 37 (SESIP) 131
Rahman, Z. 37 Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination 9,
Ramanathan,V. xxvi 115, 122, 130; English language assessment 132,
Rassool, N. 397 150; English test, Paper I, 2017 153–166, 154–159,
reading: skills and EfT 194; teaching–learning 160–165; importance of 138; Multiple Choice
techniques 197 Questions (MCQ) 155, 166–167; sample 145–148
The Reading Method 50 Second Language (L2) 82, 93
ready-made garments (RMG) industry 382–393; self-positioning 258
basic roles of different RMG personnel 385; BELF Sell, J. P. A. 206
communicative competence 383–385; fluency selves, schematic representation of 258–259, 259
386–388; general vocabulary 390–391; grammatical Sen, A. 408
knowledge and skills 388–390; overview 382–383; Shaheen, R. 118
pronunciation and accent 391–392; technical terms Shahidullah, M. 57
391; vocabulary and technical terms 390–391 Shakespeare, W. 186, 188, 192, 210, 332
Reeves, J. 324 Shamim, F. 346
reliability: described 151; external high-stake She Walks in Beauty (Byron) 212
examinations 151–152 Shih, C.-M. 117
(re-)localising ELE in Bangladesh 412–413 Shohamy, E. 116
research-based (AE) education: advantages and Shrestha, P. 118
challenges 97; and Bangladesh higher education Simon, R. I. 313, 315, 316, 324
99; at EFL universities 96–108; findings 100– Sinha, B. S. 57
107; methodology 99–100; and RIT 97, 98, 101 Siraj-ud-daulah, Nawab of Bengal 47
research informed teaching (RIT) 97; and Slater, S. 206
academic environment 101, 101–103, 102; Smith, M. S. 83, 84
categories 98; contextual factors 103–107; data Snyder, C. W., Jr. 134
analysis 100; data collection 100; empirical social capital 38, 242–243, 249
evidence 98–99; methodology 99, 99–100; and social class: identity see social class identity;
research-based (AE) education 97, 98, 101 perceived 272–275; practised 272–275
Rizvi, F. 19 social class identity: of BM other 250–252; of BM
RMG business communication 366, 388–391, 393 self 250; discursive construction of 246–252; of
Rogerson-Revell, P. 391 EM other 248–249; of EM self 246–247
Rosenblatt, L. 206 ‘social gain of education’ 274
The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes 289 social identity theory 315
Roy, R. R. M. 2, 20, 48, 414 ‘social identity threat’ 323
Roy, S. 306 ‘social rate of return’ 274
Rubdy, R. xxvi societal expectations, and teaching 137–138
Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers
Sacks, Harvey 66, 290 (SPELT) 342, 343–352; financial management
Sammons, P. 314 344; organisational management 344; reciprocity
Sanskrit College of Benares 48 between centre and chapters/branches 345;
Sarwar, Z. 346 Working Committee 344
Savage, M. 243 socio-economic affordability, and English language 26
Savvidou, C. 208 socioeconomic identity practices through English
schematic representation of selves 259 pronunciation: careful and casual speech evaluation
Schgelof, E. 66 277–280; in-group congruence 280–281;
Schmidt, R. 84 intergroup alienation 281–282; overview 271–272;
research design 275–276; self-evaluation 276–277;
The Schoolboy (Blake) 211 social class perceived and practised 272–275
Schwab, Joseph 357 sociolinguistic competence 383
429
Index
socio-political and linguistic context of teaching: assessment role in 132–135; classroom,

Bangladesh 400 washback effect on 136–137; practices 125; and
soft skills 370 societal expectations 137–138
speaking: competencies 196; skills and Teaching Quality Improvement 131
EfT 194; teaching–learning techniques Teaching Quality Improvement in Secondary
196–197 Education Project 401
SPELT Quarterly 349 technical terms 391
Spivak, G. 175 Tennyson, A. 212
Spratt, M. 134 TESOL Arabia 353
Standard Modern Greek (SMG) 256 TESOL Greece 353
Standards for Educational and Psychological TESOL International (Teaching English to
Testing 151 Speakers of Other Languages) 341, 345
status of English: in academia 290–292; in broader TESOL Sudan 353
society 290–292 test preparation culture 125–126
Stets. J. E. 316 test validation theory and methods 152
Steyn, F. 152 textbooks: gender equity and role of 299; gender
Stobart, G. 314 representations in 299–302
Stock, A. G. 177, 190, 213 textual enhancement (TE): overview 82; study
The Storm (Anwar) 192 design 84–85; techniques 83–84
strategic competence 196, 383 theorising curriculum 357–358
Strauss. A. 317 Thiong’o, N. 207
study, washback: examinations 120–121, 122; Thomas, H. R. 206
motivations for 119–120; principles of testing Tiffin, H. 19
124; private tuition 123–124; skills 120; syllabus Times Educational Supplement 177
121; test items 122; training on assessment 124; Tollefson, J. W. 286, 292
unfair assessment 122 translanguaging 287–288, 292–294
subject–verb agreement 82–83, 92 translation–adaptation method 190–191
Sultana, N. 118, 126, 139 ‘truncated multilingualism’ 336
Sultana, R. 167 Truscott, J. 84
Sultana, S. 10, 261, 268, 268n1, 365 Tupas, R. 293
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1, 28, Tyler, R. 357
371, 375
Swain, M. 383 UK Department for International Development
Swift, Jonathan 188, 213 131
syllabus, and English learning 121, 125 Underprivileged Children’s Educational
symbolic capital 242, 249, 251, 258, 261, 271, Programme (UCEP) 53, 375
285–286, 294 UNDP (United Nations Development
Programme) 400
Taba, H. 357 Unequal Englishes (Ruanni) 411
Tajfel, H. 313, 315, 316, 323 unequal treatment in occupation 307–309
Tallentire, J. 36 UNESCO 354
target language (TL) learning: certainty judgement United Nations (UN): Millennium Development
task 89; data analysis 85–86; grammar 82; Goals (MDGs) 371; Sustainable Development
grammar tasks 88, 88–89; input and written Goals (SDGs) 4, 353, 371
text 82; MC comprehension 87; metalinguistic United States Agency for International
awareness 89; note-taking 87, 87; noticing Development 22
question 87–88, 88; qualitative analysis of the United States Education Foundation in Pakistan 22
data 89–90; results 86–90; study design University of Dhaka (DU) 48, 138, 177–179
84–85 University of South California 181
Tarzan of the Apes (Burroughs) 189 Urdu, as national language in Pakistan 3–4
task-based communicative approach 190
Taylor, Charles 364 validity: described 151; external high-stake
teacher-centred teaching practices 125 examinations 151
teachers’ conceptualisation of their professional Van, T. T. M. 206
identity 318–319 Van der Walt, J. L. 152
Teachers-Helping-Teachers (THT) 351 van Dijk, T. A. 246
teacher training in assessment literacy 126 Vandrick, S. 272, 274
430
Index
Van Heerden, J. 151 West, M. 48–50

verbal competence 196 Western religious values 267
visibility of men and women 307 West Pakistan 3–4, 21; tension with East
Viswanathan, Gauri 413–414 Pakistan 21
vocabulary: development of, through CLIL in Wheeler, G. 341
literature classes 227–228; general 390–391; skills White, J. 84, 93
and EfT 194; teaching–learning techniques 198; White, M. D. 302
and technical terms 390–391 Widdowson, H. G. 205, 206, 211
volunteerism 341 Williams, J. 91
Winke, P. 150
Wacquant, L. 284 women: negligence of 306; in Pakistan 301;
Wales, R. 383 visibility of 307
Walker, D. 357 Wong,Y. 133
Wall, D. 117, 133, 151 words, choice of 305–306
Wallace, M. 358 World Bank (WB) 27, 371, 373, 376
Ward, K. 371 World Englishes (Jenkins) 289
washback 116–117; curriculum 133; discussion Write with Elbow (Elbow) 182
and implications 124–126; effect 126; effect on writing: skills and EfT 194; teaching–learning
classroom teaching 136–137; factors causing techniques 197–198
137–138; studies/findings 117–124
Watson, E. 198 Yasin, M. S. M. 299
Weber, M. 272 Yeats, W. B. 212
Weir, C. J. 151
Wenger, E. 313, 315, 323 Zetter, R. 97
431

The Routledge Handbook of English Language

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The Routledge Handbook of English Language

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“A few years ago, I was invited to serve as the Honorary President of the Festival

of Teaching in Difficult Circumstances. It was a humbling experience. I met inspir-

This Handbook is a comprehensive overview of English language education in Bangladesh.

Shaila Sultana is Professor in the Department of English Language, Institute of Modern

M. Moninoor Roshid is Associate Professor of English Language Education in the Institute of

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The Routledge Handbook of English Language Education in Bangladesh

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-

List of figures xiii

1 Introduction: English language and English language education

2 From the infrastructure to the big picture: A critical reading of English

3 A balanced approach to language-in-education policy and planning

4 Confluence of influences shaping ELT in Bangladesh 46

5 Starting from practice: A microanalysis of participants’ compliance

6 Are tertiary EFL learners ready for input enhancement technique

7 Future directions for research-based Academic English education

8 English language assessment in Bangladesh: Washback effect

9 The methods of learning English language: A critical evaluation

10 An impact analysis of questions within an external examination

12 Towards critical–affective pedagogy: Anglophone literatures

14 Content and language integrated learning: A case study on

15 Perception of social class and the discursive construction of identity

16 ‘Khaet’ (hick) vs. ‘fast’ and the construction of others: Educational

17 Socioeconomic identity practices of Bangladeshi young adults

18 A critical exploration of private university students’ approach

19 Investigating gender equity in a primary level English language

20 Identity construction and professional performance

21 An autoethnography of a ‘musafir’ life exploring English

22 The role of language teacher associations in professional development 341

23 Curriculum of English language teacher education in Bangladesh:

24 English for human capital development 369

25 BELF competence for professional communication in the

26 Ideologies of English as a language for economic development in

27 Conclusion: Lessons from the past and the future directives

2.1 Policy trajectory framework 18

14.6 Participants’ views on the statement CLIL Literature helped to improve

2.1 A chronological summary of EL and ELEP in different policy documents 23

M. Moninoor Roshid is an Associate Professor of English Language Education in the Institute

Shaila Sultana is a Professor in the Department of English Language, Institute of Modern

Qumrul Hasan Chowdhury is a Assistant Professor of English Language in the Institute

Robiul Kabir Chowdhury is a Senior Specialist (Examination and Evaluation) working

Elizabeth J. Erling is a Professor of English Language Teaching research and methodology at

Subramaniam Govindasamy (EdD, Rutgers University) taught at the Department of English

M. Obaidul Hamid is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL Education at the University of Queensland,

Mashrur Shahid Hossain is a Professor of English, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Golam Jamil is a Researcher in the Transforming the Experience of Students through

Asif Kamal is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at American International

Alastair Pennycook is a Distinguished Professor of Language, Society, and Education at UTS.

Arifa Rahman is an English language educator, involved in developing and empowering

A. M. M. Hamidur Rahman is a Supernumerary Professor of English at the Institute of Modern

From Colonial English to English in Action

development; it is a language which creates barriers as much as it presents possibilities. English

Delinking English Language Teaching

Towards a grammar of decoloniality