Revisioning English studies in Bangladesh in the age of globalisation and ELT

Abstract

This chapter begins with the premise that English Studies in Bangladesh is now going through a critical period and is beset by these problems: (a) the suspicion and anxiety created over decades in many Bangladeshi minds about linguistic encroachment and fear of an imperial language marginalising Bengali in public life yet again and the resulting perceived threat to the native language and culture; (b) the commodification of the language, which is the consequence of globalisation and the consequent imposition of pedagogies that have led to the attenuation of the language and the diminished capacity to teach it effectively and creatively; (c) the unplanned expansion of the education system and proliferation of teaching methods that go against effective learning, promote impractical pedagogies and concentrate on results rather than teaching; and (d) the conversion of the universities of Bangladesh in general and English departments of these universities in particular into places for churning out graduates who can meet the job market’s demands in the quickest and most facile manner without regard for in-depth knowledge and a pedagogy that is critical and humanistic in orientation. The chapter begins by commenting on the results of the University of Dhaka’s Arts Faculty Admission test of 2014 and goes on to link it to the English language teaching situation in our schools and colleges. It then attempts to connect this situation to the condition of English language teaching in our universities after the grammar-translation method was vilified, the British Council sponsored ELT valorised and the use of literary texts denigrated from the 1980s onwards. The chapter concludes by suggesting how a positive paradigm shift can be achieved to improve the condition of English Studies in Bangladesh by combining critical methods derived from literature and insights derived from accumulated experience, language education, recent theory, critical pedagogy and current best practices effectively and sequentially.