Secondary English Language Teacher Capacity: Insights From Bangladesh

Shakila Nur

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.6n.4p.163

Shakila Nur

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.6n.4p.163

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Abstract

Like other developing, non-English speaking countries in Asia, Bangladesh has shown a phenomenal attention towards English education through the school curriculum. The attention is demonstrated by revisiting and revising pertinent curriculum, personnel, materials, methods, and assessment policies of English education. This paper, within an exploratory, qualitative case study paradigm offers a modest, interpretive inquiry into secondary English teacher capacity, in terms of their recruitment, training and class performance. The data were collected from semi-structured interviews with secondary English teachers, school principals and teacher trainers, and classroom observations of secondary English teachers. The findings identified a set of generic issues around secondary English teacher capacity. These included inadequate provision of teachers, stigmatised practice of teacher recruitment, limited attention to teacher training and their impacts on the overall quality of English education. Reflecting upon the findings, the paper concludes with a set of recommendations for secondary English personnel policy and practice, which could be a point of reference for Bangladesh and beyond.

Highlights

The emergence of English education in Bangladesh as a global language is informed by a myriad of socio-politico-economic sine qua non
The participants, English teachers (ET) and School Principals (SP) reported that their schools
This paper essentially argued that the personnel policy, the policy for the teachers, the ‘street level bureaucrats’ (Lipsky, 1980) has not been attended thoughtfully

Summary

Introduction

The emergence of English education in Bangladesh as a global language is informed by a myriad of socio-politico-economic sine qua non. The country showed a clear manifestation of ‘postcolonial puzzle’ regarding English language and education, the puzzle created by two opposite notions of decolonisation and globalisation (Canagarajah, 2005; pp.195-196; Nur, 2018). Following the other Asian and African decolonised countries, Bangladesh, alongside its national language (Bangla) adopted English as a main foreign language, as an unassailable instrument for “increased employability and productivity, nation-building, technological advancement, fulfilling personal needs” (Kirkpatrick & Bui, 2016, pp.3-6) both nationally and internationally. This study, by bringing together the related literature, attempted to explore the realities of secondary English language teacher capacity (in terms of recruitment, training and performance) in Bangladesh, which Kaplan & Baldauf, (1997, 2003, 2005) termed as personnel policy

Results

Discussion

Conclusion