Problems in English Language Teaching and Learning in Bangladesh and My Recommendation on It

The Table of Contents

Titles                                                  Page

1. Introduction                                           3

2. The Problems of English Teaching in Bangladesh

     2.1. Lack of Efficient Teachers                      4

     2.2. Lack of Teachers’ Training                      4

     2.3. Lack of Teachers’ Motivation                         4

     2.4. Lack of Proper Material                              4

     2.5. Lack of Proper Infrastructure                        5

     2.6 Contradiction between Teaching and Assessment         5

     2.7. Problem in Proper Teaching Method               5

     2.8. Teaching as Dual Profession                     5

3. The Problems of Learning English in Bangladesh         5

     3.1. Unfavourable Environment

     3.2. Much Preference Given in Bangla to English           6

     3.3. Limited Scopes to Practise English              6

     3.4. Lack of Quality Materials                       6

     3.5. Impractical Attempt                                  6

     3.6. Lack of Motivation                                   7

     3.7. Overemphasis on Grammatical Accuracy            7

     3.8. Limited Scope for Consultation                  7

4. My Recommendations to solve the problems of Teaching and Learning English in Bangladesh                           7

5. Conclusion                                             9

     1. Introduction: English has become the most important international language. During the British rule, English was the instrument and language of the colonial power. It was the medium for the colonial administration, education and commerce. The English language was established as the main vehicle of progress and enlightenment of the western variety. Thus, it becomes the common means of communication between the rulers and the educated class of Indian subcontinent. English retained that position till the partition of India in 1947. The story of English language proceeds during the later years of the colonial rule by establishing some illustrations such as the establishment of universities in Kolkata, Mumbai and Channai in 1857 and Dhaka in 1921.  After the independence of Bangladesh, English language suffered a serious negligence for the first few years. It so happened because of the strong public sentiment in favour of the mother tongue Bengali. Consequently, English language teaching and learning condition in our educational institutions suffered badly, and English lost its previous dominant status, though English was still a compulsory subject from secondary to higher secondary levels. In 1974, an education commission was formed which made some recommendations with regard to language teaching. Later, Ministry of Education set up an English Language Teaching Taskforce to evaluate the state of English language teaching in Bangladesh, and it made some recommendations for the improvement of learning English. Teaching and learning of English in the schools, colleges and universities are not being done in the way what it should be done. In most of the cases, the grammar learning has been given emphasis; the textbook contents are taught and learnt without understanding. In 1974, an education commission was formed which made the following recommendations with regard to language teaching. However, the role of English language as a lingua franca makes it a unique language in the world. This distinctiveness not only refers to the language itself, but also to the ways it is taught as a foreign language. Learning a foreign language takes place step by step in which a number of factors play a direct role. This study intends to shed light on problems of “English Language Teaching and Learning in Bangladesh”. It tries to unveil the problems encountered by the students, sketch a picture of teacher-student interaction and their linguistic behaviour in the class, and evaluate the level of performance of students in the four basic skills of the English language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The study suggests certain remedial measures to overcome the hindrances lying in the process of teaching-learning activities in Bangladesh. 

2. The Problems of English Teaching

     2.1. Lack of Efficient Teachers: There are two common sayings that ‘Education is the backbone of a nation’ and ‘A teacher is an architect of a nation’. There is a deep connection between the two ideas. In other words, a teacher constructs a nation with the help of his refined knowledge. So as a builder of a nation, a teacher of English must be efficient. But there are many teachers of English who are not proficient enough in English because the sorting out procedures of teachers here are not good and sometimes the appointment of a teacher depends upon money not upon merit.

  

            2.2. Lack of Teachers’ Training: Lack of teachers’ training is one of the major problems found in teaching English in Bangladesh. Actually, a well trained teacher can help a student learn better. But there are teachers who receive no training at all to teach English. So as an untrained teacher, he cannot help release the students’ problems and fear of the subject. Even he cannot make the lessons interesting because of the lack of some effectual strategies. If he had received training, he or she could have taught the subject comparatively good. If the situation keeps on going, it will hamper the students’ dormant potentialities and it will kill the valuable time the learners too.

            2.3. Lack of Teachers’ Motivation: Except few, in most cases teachers are seen to be insincere. He like a businessman thinks of money only and he feels it unnecessary to motivate his students. We know that only bookish knowledge cannot lead a student to be a fully successful citizen of a nation. So during a class, a teacher has to motivate the students and such motivation will help the students to go ahead and also assist him to reach the intended goal. Even he does not encourage the students to practise speaking inside and outside the class. There is a saying that where there is a will, there is a way. In the same way, where there is motivation there is success.

            2.4. Lack of Proper Material: In our country textbooks at the rate of one title per class are produced centrally by NCTB (National Curriculum and Textbook Board), which all the mainstream schools have to use. All these books use the communicative approach to some extant. And every book includes literary texts which are integrated with the main topic of the unit. The teachers depend on the textbook contents and methodology for what they call teaching English. McRae says that the teacher who follows nay course-book slavishly will inevitably bore him of himself as well as the students. And the excuse of getting though the book by the end of the course is one of the most counterproductive and openly anti-learning attitudes and encourages rote-learning at the expense of communicative use of the language.

            2.5. Lack of Proper Infrastructure: The systems of teaching English in Bangladesh are not very acceptable. It also affects teaching of English beyond imagination.

   

            2.6 Contradiction between Teaching and Assessment: There arises a contradiction between teaching and assessment. Here a teacher is not well assessed, for this reason, there is no improvement seen in the quality of a teacher rather he becomes very insincere and indifferent to the class and the students. This causes harms to learners. And soon the learners lose their interest in the class.  

            2.7. Problem in Proper Teaching Method: Traditional teaching methodology followed by teachers in Bangladesh is not suitable for teaching communicative English, but only for meeting the requirements of the present examination system. That is why, even if a teacher knows how to make his or her learners practise oral skills, he or she does not find it worth practising. So, there is an urgent need to change the way of teaching foreign language to bring it more into line with the learner-centred, collaborative approach of the communicative method.   

            2.8. Teaching as Dual Profession: In Bangladesh a teacher is one of the lowest paid service providers to the nation. So the salary they are provided with is not enough for them to lead a simple life when the price hike of the essentials is soaring high almost every day. This is why, they finding no other way alternative engage themselves in other ways of earning such as teaching one batch after another and other types of business side by side. This puts a negative impact on them. Because of it, a teacher soon loses his energy to impart education in the class. To be honest, here money is the major fact to them for survival not the quality of education.   

3. The Problems of Learning English in Bangladesh

            3.1. Unfavourable Environment: Here in Bangladesh the environment of learning English is to some extent unfavourable because it is often seen that a person interested in learning English is normally laughed and criticised severely and ignorantly by the people around the learners because of the mistakes he or she commits while learning which involves conscious endeavour. Such ruthless criticism prevents a learner of English from exercising in it and it ultimately results in failure.   

            3.2. Much Preference Given in Bangla to English: Here Bangla is much preferred to English in every sphere of life. The learners influenced by the family members and the history of Bangladesh often feel that to try to learn English is similar to paying disrespect to the martyrs died in ‘The Language Movement’ in 1952. Therefore, they generally avoid it. To be true, the learners love conversing with other people in Bangla. Even they love to read Bangla. It is seen that some students weak in English peruse guides written in Bangla while the texts selected for him or her are completely in English. But they hardly try to understand that it is just the wasting of time, nothing else.      

            3.3. Limited Scopes to Practise English: Bangladeshi learners face a great deal of problems on their way to learn English. We know that a classroom is nowadays only the place where learners have suitable environment to practise English. But they get hardly any opportunity to practise it. Here the teachers would encourage them to communicate in English. But this is not enough for them. In order to learn English well, they need practising English outside the classroom. But the scenario is completely opposite here because as soon as the learners come out of the educational institutions, they never find any interest in speaking English.    

            3.4. Lack of Quality Materials: Qualitative English learning materials are not available here. To attain good knowledge of English, a learner needs to be supplied with quality materials which can help them to make a good start because we know that a good start is half-done. They are willing to purchase cheap books composed by some cheap writers and those copies are replete with many a mistake and wrong ideas. In addition, the teachers who are directly involved in preparing book lists for the students are found to be less careful because in most cases the teachers are excessively influenced by a group of foul book businessmen. Therefore, the students are deprived of good books and guidelines.        

            3.5. Impractical Attempt: In this respect, we can remember a passage title “How to Ride a Bicycle”. Here there were two friends who tried to learn how to ride a bicycle. Here one is called Raghib and another is called Adeb. Adeb wanted to learn to ride a bicycle by only reading a book while Raghib took a bicycle in practical and started practising riding the bicycle. At first Raghib fell off several times and Abed laughed at him. After several unsuccessful trials, Raghib was performing fairly well, in the meantime, Abed completed only three chapters of his book and leaned about how a cycle works. However, learning English is like riding a bicycle. It is unfortunate that almost all the learners of English here in Bangladesh are like Adeb. They believe that a book is the best guide to them. The learners are in no way practical at all. Any language can be acquired successfully by being practical in the same way Raghib learned to ride a bicycle. So, only studying grammar books will not help a learner to acquire a language effectively.               

            3.6. Lack of Motivation: There are some teachers who neither teach the learners properly nor encourage them to acquire a language. So lack of motivation creates a cloud of frustration in them. Gradually, they finding English a hard discipline try to discover some shortcut ways to only pass English in public examinations because they find hardly any interest in it. And it is really true that if you find no interest in a piece of work, it is very hard to improve in it.  

  

            3.7. Overemphasis on Grammatical Accuracy: Grammar and Translation Method is one of oldest methods that are still applied in teaching English system and it demands overemphasis on grammatical accuracy in leaning and it creates unspeakable fright in the learners. As they have no option open for them to avoid the discipline, few of them follow dishonest ways only to pass in English. We often forget that a language comes first and then grammar follows language.

            3.8. Limited Scope for Consultation: All the learners are not alike. Both weak and brilliant learners co-exist in a leaning environment. Brilliant students understand a lesson better and faster than the weaker students in the same class. Sometimes it happens that some of the students face many a problem to understand the particular topic discussed in the class. Some of them often feel the necessity of consulting their problems with the teachers but there is hardly any scope in school and college level education for it. If they were able to consult the problems with their teachers, they would be benefited from it.       

     4. My Recommendations: To provide the students with the maximum benefit in an atmosphere where English is a foreign language, teacher should involve them in a variety of activities as pair work, role-play, question-answer, discussions, projects and the rest given in the textbook and also prepared by themselves. Students’ participation should be given priority over teacher participation as the basic skills of language can best be practised through learner-centred activities and so tasks should be interesting and relevant to the learners’ life and environment.

            In general the teachers’ attitude towards leaning English by the ‘read and translate’ method should be changed and they need to be made aware that translating is a quite separate and distinct skill from language learning.

            The language for classroom management, such as instructions given, questions asked by the teachers and students and answers given, should be English. Using English for these purposes will increase the amount of the practice in spoken skills. This will give the students an impression that English, like the mother tongue, can be used for real life communication. The immersion in English might initially pose some problems of understanding but if the technique of all-English presentation and practice is continued, the learners will quite soon develop their comprehension capacity.

            As regards error correction, the teacher should create an environment in which mistakes are accepted as part of the learning process. George opines that the correction of every error provides no guarantee that students will learn from their mistakes. And Burt suggests that to limit rectification will help the learners escalate the motivation and the confidence levels. It is possible that through practice students will develop their speaking skill. The students should be motivated to speak first and they can be advised not to always ponder over the grammatical corrections. Once they develop the habit of speaking by removing the shyness and fear, it is likely that they will be willing enough to concentration on correction as far as possible.

            Learners’ autonomy being the key, the learner will develop a sense of responsibility towards learning and achievement rather than being spoon-fed by the teacher. This will enhance their sense of self-achievement, confidence and autonomy. The practical argument for promoting learners’ autonomy is that in the long run a teacher may not always be available to assist. Learners need to be able to learn on their own because they do not have access to the kind or amount of individual instruction they need in order to become proficient in the language. Finally learners become more efficient in their language learning if they do not have to spend time waiting for the teacher to prove them with resources or solve their problems.

            Regarding test and evaluation, the test questions should be framed in a way that the students are not encouraged to commit ready-made answers to memory as happens now. Instead they would be compelled to think individually and independently in order to answer them. Oral examinations of this kind are free from the dangers of the candidate offering a prepared speech. If classroom procedures have familiarised students with the interactive possibilities of group discussion regarding representational materials, there need be no undue examination nervousness. Again, the teaching should be closely related to both what will be tested and how it will be tested.  

            Apart from attaining a degree, the students should be encouraged to talk whenever it is possible. They will be given contexts and materials that will allow them to develop the habits of thinking and expressing themselves in English. A main strand of the material my usefully be literature-based. At present the ability to speak in English is in very great demand, it would be a pity to restrict the opportunities to the economically advantaged urban few. Moreover, the fast that, Open University expenses are comparatively affordable could be beneficial, have a positive impact on learning, and ensure equal educational opportunities for all.

            5. Conclusion: To sum up the elaborate discussion above, it is apparent that the whole procedures applied here in Bangladesh to teach and learn English should be geared up to the needs to the age and the practice of the English language should be given much emphasis in all spheres of life, then we can certainly reach our goal. And only then good command in English will be ensured.       

Md. Saiful Alam

B. A. Honours and M. A. in English

Lecturer of English

Queen’s College, Dhaka

E-mail: suman64924@gmail.com

 My affectionate Readers,

Please, never hesitate to comment and any correction or suggestion regarding my writings will be largely appreciated and valued and you can ask me any grammatical questions regarding English. I promise I would try my level best to assist you, all. Thank you very much.