Challenges of speaking English in Bangladeshi classrooms

The research intends to find out the challenges that the learners face in English speaking in the Bangladeshi classrooms. This paper investigates the challenges existing in teaching-learning and practicing spoken English inside the classroom. With a view to finding out the challenges, the data have been collected through the research instruments like survey questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion and classroom observation. After a thorough analysis in both qualitative and quantitative methods, a recommendation has been made for the learners, teachers, ELT practitioners and all the people involved in the teaching and learning English in Bangladesh. However, my anticipation of the result is that the lack of logistic and administrative facilities, appropriate teaching-learning methods and lack of supportive environment are the challenges in teaching-learning spoken English in Bangladesh. Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1.Background English is a compulsory subject in Bangladeshi mainstream schools and colleges. In spite of that, the majority of the students are not enough competent in English, especially in speaking. The NCTB book “English For today” has an attempt to motivate the teachers and learners in practicing speaking. The basis of this textbook is helping students to be communicatively competent in English. However, it is pessimistic that in spite of all the attempts, the success is still far away. In 1990s, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) and British Government Overseas Development Administration (ODA) worked on a project for the secondary English teaching’s improvement. The project came with a result that the students had a lack of proficiency in English language comparatively their level. Finding this, the government of Bangladesh took the decision to implement English as a compulsory subject for the schools and colleges. Recently, the Bangladeshi government has launched a project named the English Language Teaching Project (ELTIP) in collaboration with the Department of International Development (DEID). This project is working to provide training for the ELT teachers so that they can prepare the appropriate English materials for the learners. However, English teaching and learning in the Bangladeshi educational premises have been mingled with the ‘Communicative Approach’ in the 1970s. The aim of the approach is to enable the students to be competent in the communication in English. Communication in English means to continue a discussion showing the mastery over the basic skills of English. But, after four decades of launching the communicative approach, the pedagogists, teachers, students and educational researchers are in big confusion, thinking the actual outcome of the approach, especially in achieving the ‘speaking’ skill. It is axiomatic that to most of the students taking an attempt to speak English is like facing the ghost in the dark. They have a tendency to think it as an impossible attempt to achieve the English speaking proficiency. Moreover, most of the students think English as a ‘Subject’ to pass rather a language to speak which is one of the obvious reasons behind the inefficiency in this Oracy skill. 1.2.Context It is still a controversial issue whether Bangladesh is an ESL (English as a Second Language) or EFL (English as a Foreign Language) country. According to Kachru (1986, p. 33) and Jenkins (2009, p. 16) Bangladesh enjoys the status of ESL (English as a Second Language). But, many Bangladeshi researchers oppose their views. For example, Farooqui (2007) has boldly entitled English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Bangladesh (p. 96). On the other hand, Siddique (2004) has examined the intensity of usage English in Bangladesh and concluded that English is an ESL in Bangladesh (p. 33). However, after defining the term ESL, Hasan (2011) have concluded that ‘we can easily say… English is the Second Language in Bangladesh’. On the other hand, Salahuddin, Khan and Rahman (2013) have stated that ‘although officially English is a national second language in Bangladesh; this does not make Bangladesh an ESL country, as there exists mainly a non-Anglophone environment outside the English classrooms (p. 35). It is seen that the status of English in Bangladesh is a matter of dispute among the researchers. But, whatever the status of English in Bangladesh, there is no doubt that English is highly valued in Bangladesh in terms of its demand and the intensity of the usage in official and educational arena. In Bangladesh, English is mainly taught and learnt academically in the classroom. So, classroom is the one and only option for most of the school and college students to learn English. It is the place where the students have to attend to get the academic lessons, including showing to and checking the home works up by the teachers. To do all these things, how much do the students use or try to use English in the classroom? This is a big question to the people who are working in the related field and to those who are working to resolve the challenges or the problems that inhibit them from speaking English. There are some studies regarding the problems, difficulties and challenges that are related to teaching and learning spoken English in Bangladesh. Some studies have been conducted from the urban perspective, some are from rural, and again some are on both. Like, Hamid (2011) has conducted a research on the overall English proficiency of rural Bangladeshi school learners. He has talked about the ‘socioeconomic’ factors that create a problem in English teaching and learning. His study focuses on all the four skills of English. On the other hand, Farooqui (2007) has conducted a study on the problems and solutions in the spoken English of the urban students and found out that the lack of vocabulary, learners, shyness, and unfamiliar topics create problems in practicing spoken. However, Hasan and Akhand (2009) have carried out a research on the challenges and sustainability of TESL in Bangladeshi college level. Their study have covered all the 64 districts in Bangladesh including both urban and rural colleges. They have found that the scarcity of appropriate teaching materials and less competent teachers are the main challenges for Bangladeshi students’ spoken English. None of the above studies are solely for classroom based research. So, after studying all these related articles I have found the inspiration to conduct a study with the Bangladeshi teaching and learning spoken English. Moreover, I have also been learned in such a classroom where I faced different challenges in speaking English. 1.3. Purpose of the study The aim of this study is to find and analyze the Bangladeshi students’ challenges of practicing spoken English in the classroom. I would like to find and analyze the classroom based challenges, including the roles of the teachers they are taught by, the institutional and infrastructural challenges and the roles of education system they go through. My study will try to find out the answers of the following primary questions: i. To what extent the classroom environment and class size affect students’ speaking English? ii. What are the teachers’ roles to motivate students to speak in English? iii. What the roles are played by the educational institutions to motivate students in speaking English. Finally, I will try to provide some recommendations based on the findings and analysis. In my study, I have excluded the privileged students who have an access to the English speaking community in and outside the family and the classroom along with the English medium schools. Here, my intention is to focus on the general Bangla medium students both from school and college. 1.4 . Significance and scope of the study Speaking skill in Bangladesh has not yet got the equal importance as it is argued in the education policy. The real situation seems still unknown to most of the pedagosists as the students who they make these plans for are miles away from achieving English speaking skill. Therefore, the significance of the study lies in finding the real challenges that the Bangladeshi students face in their classroom in speaking English. I hope that this study will add some values in planning that are interrelated and intra-related to teach and learn English in Bangladeshi classroom.