Bangladeshi EFL Teachers' Challenges in Dealing with English for Today in the Classroom (original) (raw)
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English Language Teaching and Learning at Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels in Bangladesh
2017
Language is the means of communication. As a medium of communication English enjoys the position of World Language. So a good English Language Teaching and Learning is of Paramount importance to determine the standard of our system of education. On the other hand the teaching of English depends to a large extent on the policy adopted by the Government. iIt is a matter of great grief that only for proper English Language policy and Teaching method we cannot achieve our ultimate success in English in compare to other neighboring countries. There is no denying the fact that in our country we do not use the right approach in English teaching and learning (Prescribed by GoB). Though our Government is giving emphasis on CLT method but in reality in our schools, and colleges there is no practice of communicative English. Some teachers never follow the CLT method in their classroom teaching. They always engage their students busy in memorizing grammar rules and other syllabus oriented lesso...
IJNRD INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NOVEL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT , 2023
Bangladesh's National Curriculum and Textbooks Broad has developed English textbook English for Today for grades 11 and 12 as a continuation of grade 6 following the principle of learning the language through hands-on practice as part of the English Language Teaching Improvement Project. This book aims at using English for a variety of purposes, targeting four skills through a communicative approach. However, emphasizing the communicative approach does not mean ignoring the role of grammar. During the review by the committee, it was observed that there was a great discrepancy between the content of the text and the testing system. Our students are also exam oriented and use this book not as a tool for language proficiency but as a tool for academic excellence. The application of this textbook is questionable. This study looks into what teachers and students concentrate on and what they skip over in the HSC English textbook, as well as why they do so. It also assesses the usefulness of the textbook. Teachers and students from a few urban and rural institutions in Bangladesh's Mymensingh participated in the study by filling out closed-ended questionnaires. The study found that while almost all teachers and students concur that the text is rich enough for learning all four language skills, their learning and teaching activities are more focused on preparing for exams than on helping students become fluent in the language. The gaps between the textual contents, classroom and homework activities, and testing system can be closed by rearranging the exam questionnaire in accordance with the four language skills as they are described in the text.
The Constraints of Learning and Teaching English in Bangladesh: A Study at H.S.C. Levels
The falling standard of English in Bangladesh is at present a great issue to think over. Although we are too much proud of our historic Language Movement of 1952, we must not lag behind in learning and using English along with the vernacular Bangla. However, after the War of Liberation in 1971, we shifted the position of English from ESL (English as Second Language) to EFL (English as Foreign Language). In this situation some GCE (English Medium) schools are heavily preoccupied with the teaching of English without proper linguistic competence and at the same time neglecting our own mother tongue as well as culture. But today English is unavoidably proved to be the only lingua franca (the common language) for communication of world's people by dint of its being the world's most rich, scientific and resourceful language. Earlier, the Grammar Translation Method (the GTM) was followed in the teaching process of English and students tried to learn the rules of grammar and translate from mother language to the target language expectedly with proper command over English. But now Communicative Approach has been introduced in our course and curriculum though no true result is seen yet. There are two ways for developing a language: (i) acquisition and (ii) learning. And learners have two problems: (i)
An analysis on the Effectiveness of English for Today in Secondary Level Education in Bangladesh
American Journal of Multidisciplinary Research & Development (AJMRD) , 2023
In Bangladesh, the state-sponsored National Textbook and Curriculum Board (NCTB) has been developing textbooksfor primary to intermediate levelssince its inception in 1983. Its goal is to create and reform a national curriculum that will prepare the next generation of leaders and accurately point them.The NCTB updated the English for Today textbook series in 2013 to reflect the recommendations made in the National Education Policy (NEP, 2010) and National Curriculum (NC, 2012). The paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of English for Today (EFT) as it claims to enable learners to be competent in the communicative language, the ELT material in schools and madrasas in Bangladesh. This research is solely drawn upon English Paper 1; hence, it does not relate to English Paper 2. At the pre-intermediate level, it is expected that the learners will be able to communicate competently in real-life situations. Students are expected to acquire competence in all four language skills, i.e., Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. However, literature and study indicate that the goal of the textbook developed by the NCTB to teach communicative English did not achieve. The study reveals that all four skills are not equally emphasized giving extended importance to reading and writing. In addition, poor illustration, fragile paper quality, overlooking three levels of reading comprehension and no vocabulary list at the end of the book are few notable drawbacks.Thestudy suggests that the textbook needs to be revised and redesigned in order to meet learners' linguistic and communicative needs. Along with analyzing the book, data has been gathered from various literature and teachers from different institutes in Sylhet with a semistructured questionnaire.
The Importance of Grammar in Acquiring English at the Secondary Level Education in Bangladesh
English language teaching and learning has been accounted as an important sector in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh English has been considered as a foreign language and it has been started teaching using grammatical rules from the primary level. This paper aims to work on the Importance of Grammar in acquiring accuracy in English for the Students at the Secondary Level in Bangladesh. Due to its' investigation it has focused on the use of the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) to identify the circumstances of the teaching as well as the learning process. The paper has also worked on the implication of different steps in the ongoing accuracy process and the progress of the students in producing clean paper through applying the grammatical rules. It has sorted out the sensible level of the students in writing or writing development and the teacher's effort towards the students to help them in learning the grammatical rules of the Second Language. The study is a mixture of qualitative and quantitative and typologically the research is descriptive and explanatory. The study has involved observation, proficiency tests as methods of collecting data. It has also used articles, books, etc. as secondary sources. The instruments used to implement the methods were-A test paper for Translations, A paper for writing a paragraph on "Corona Virus", and a Checklist.
A Comparative Study on Teaching English in the Bengali and English Medium Schools in Bangladesh
Kaniz Fatema, 2019
Volume: 1 Issue: 4 English and Bengali medium of educational system plays an important role in a developing country like Bangladesh. The dynamic education system is still looking for a dependable and long-term serving curriculum and testing system of teaching and learning. The purpose of the paper is to find out the gap of using the CLTA curriculum with the text used and actually which methods or approaches are being followed to teach English. The instrument is teacher questionnaires and researcher's classroom observation checklist to find out the answer of research questions. The findings concern to reveal the actual method or approach that has been practiced in Bangladesh and the gap of CLTA curriculum-based education with the practical method or approach that has been practiced. These findings are supported by the findings of the researcher's own checklist except for a few differences. KEYWORDS Bengali medium (BM); Education; English Medium (EM) National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) 1. INTRODUCTION Teaching and learning English plays an important role in Bangladesh as unlike the western developed countries, the education system is focusing on learning English besides native language only. English has been taught and learnt at the very early age of a child beside their native language. Both English and Bengali medium schools teach English as a subject side by side Bengali. Though English has been learnt and taught at the early age of a child but the question remains-'why can't a learner even after graduating fails to communicate in English?' The cause may indicate some lacking in teaching and learning methodology. From the beginning of the English Language Teaching till now there have been lots of approaches and methods invented. Grammar Translation Method to Flip Method and a lot more are in progress in search for an "Ideal" method or approach to teach. As the figure show:
English Language Teaching in Bangladesh at Higher Secondary Level: Problems and Solutions
English Language Teaching in Bangladesh at Higher Secondary Level: Problems and Solutions, 2019
Abstract The reason why it’s an international language and also recognized as a world language, English has always been a part of our education system from Class 1-12 no doubt. After getting independence in 1971, the use of English language has been increasing in administration, education and other sectors in Bangladesh thoughtfully. Though, Bangladeshi government has always been active to undertake various ventures to improve the learners’ competence in English. In 2001, the Government adopted CLT approach to develop the learners’ English at HSC level. CLT is very effective to teach Communicative and functional English because it gives importance to four skills (reading, Writing, listening and speaking) in English. After 10 years of its launch, it has been noticed .That the learners’ proficiency in English is not up to the mark as was expected. So the problems and solutions come at first to independently and English Language Teaching is not up to the mark in Higher Secondary Level. This paper find out the problems and solutions of English Language Teaching in Higher Secondary Level. Keywords: English, Teaching, CLT, speaking, writing.
CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH AS FOREIGN LANGUAGE: CONTEXT OF BANGLADESH
Teaching and learning English for global communication become the common and powerful phenomenon in almost all the countries of the world. The countries " educationists and facilitators often face multidimensional challenges at the time of providing teaching and adapting update method of teaching and learning English. The challenges including political, social, economic, cultural and political become dominating in developing countries where English is taken as second language or foreign language. Moreover some challenges related to foreign language teaching and learning policy come as the major challenges. It is often that multicultural and multilingual countries of the world feel the immense problem of teaching and learning English. In addition, language shock, culture shock , motivation and ego boundaries are also taken to the consideration as the inner challenges of being acculturated and having foreign language proficiency (Schumann 1978, p: 34). As English language becomes the international language and only tool of world communication, the process and policy of acquiring effective level of English language proficiency are developing with a good range in developing countries of the world. So the study finds so many challenges of teaching and learning English of developing countries in general and of Bangladesh in particular. At the last portion, the paper includes a few recommendations to be followed which might work as the remedies of the challenges of teaching and learning English in developing countries of the world.
English plays a significant role for the development of a country. A country's development totally depends on its education system. For the upliftment of education system, English is must. However, achieving the mastery of English is a challenging task in a developing country like Bangladesh. After the four decades of liberation, Bangladesh is yet to formulate a clear policy of teaching English in academic and other spheres. As a result, our country is trying to generate a young workforce with a high level of proficiency in English. This condition alarms our educationists to rethink of the currently applied methods of teaching English.
English Language Learning and Prospect of Secondary Schools in Bangladesh
International Journal of English Linguistics
In Bangladesh, English as an international language is taught in primary and secondary schools to build a strong foundation for English learning for children from childhood. The necessity to determine the current situation of English-language learning among secondary school students in Bangladesh and the future of this phase is the sole purpose of this study. For this study, data were collected from ten different secondary schools in Bangladesh where the Class 8—English for Today book was used to teach English. Concisely, the objectives of the study are to gather information and discuss learning the vibrant international languages of the present and future. In this research, data collected from 200 students from ten secondary high schools in ten upazilas [sub-districts] is used to analyze prospective English language learning. The results of the analysis revealed that the textbook is not effective for English learning and has not met people’s expectations. Measures must be taken to ...