The Socio-cultural Contexts of English Language Teaching in Bangladesh: A Study of Secondary Level Education

Abstract

Globalization has had a significant impact on educational systems worldwide, and English has become the primary language of instruction and communication. English has long enjoyed a special place in Bangladesh as a result of British colonial control and as a means of international integration. This paper applied critical-cultural and historical-structural theories to analyze the pedagogy of three Bangladeshi high schools. Critical-cultural analysis examines phenomena from three overarching perspectives: multiculturalism, hegemonic ideology, and power relations. A historical-structural framework is brought to bear on our analysis through an interface between language policy and the structured relations in and societal expectations of an educational system. A four-pronged ethnographic method—(a) depth interviews with key policy planners; (b) depth interviews with teachers; (c) nonreactive, unobtrusive classroom observations; and (d) textual analysis—was used to answer three research questions:

1. In the context of power relations, to what degree are school textbooks the dictates of a governing, hegemonic authority or the products of a broad-based participatory decision-making process?

2. In the perspective of hegemonic ideology, to what degree do textbooks, as ideological frames, privilege certain Bangladeshi schools and undermine, marginalize, neglect or ignore others?

3. In the perspective of multiculturalism, is pedagogy, as embedded in textbooks, socially egalitarian or does it privilege urban students over rural students?

To answer those questions, this paper compared English-language teaching in Bengali- and English-medium schools and examined the different socioeducational practices in each. Results indicated that students from resource-poor rural schools, where English teaching is at best perfunctory, are significantly disadvantaged, creating an educational system fraught with pedagogical inequalities, social disparities, and misaligned resources, and calling into question the government’s current educational policy. Thus, the present policy continues to confer advantages on groups with access to English education, while contributing to the ongoing educational difficulties faced by the rural and urban poor. A framework for an effective language policy, a desideratum for improved, equal-access education, is proffered.