Students\u2019 low proficiency in spoken English in private universities in Bangladesh: reasons and remedies

Md Shaiful Islam,Mahani Bt Stapa

doi:10.1186/s40468-021-00139-0

Abstract

Students of private universities in Bangladesh are often found to be less competent in spoken English. Since the universities have adopted EMI (English medium instruction) policy, the prevailing linguistic condition on the campus is an “English only environment.” In this context, students are required to communicate in English both inside and outside their classroom, but they desperately struggle to cope with this environment. This study attempted to understand and explain this problem; hence, it set three aims: to evaluate students’ current level of proficiency in spoken English, to investigate the reasons, and to offer remedies. Initially, selected students were given an IELTS-style speaking test in order to determine the overall proficiency in spoken English. Then, involving teachers and students, semistructured email interviews were conducted. The findings report that students’ current level of proficiency is around IELTS band score 5. Reasons for low development of spoken English among students include complex nature of speaking, inappropriate application of instructional methods, teachers’ low proficiency in spoken English and controlling behavior, students’ psychological factors, sociocultural factors, students’ inadequate linguistic resources, L1 interference, and large class size. Remedies suggested by the participants entail integrating TBL (task-based learning) and CL (cooperative learning) teaching-learning, making students aware of noticing, learning speaking through listening, teaching collocations, promoting self-regulated learning, and strengthening teacher education. The reasons investigated and the remedies explored have significant implications that might guide the members of the operating trusts of the private universities, members of the curriculum development and revision committees, and the practitioners to adopt practical approaches to ensure effective learning of spoken English by the students.

Highlights

Speaking, as used in the ESL (English as a second language), or EFL (English as a foreign language) contexts, appears to be the most important of the four language skills (Bailey & Savage, 1994; El-Sakka, 2016; Shabani, 2013)
The majority of the students belonged to the range of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) band score 4.5 (23.8%) and 5 (42.9%) while only two students scored 6
Perceiving the enormous importance of students’ proficiency in spoken English in the private universities in Bangladesh, this study examined the state of the art of this proficiency, investigated the underlying reasons, and explored possible solutions

Summary

Introduction

As used in the ESL (English as a second language), or EFL (English as a foreign language) contexts, appears to be the most important of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) (Bailey & Savage, 1994; El-Sakka, 2016; Shabani, 2013). Lazaraton (2014) adds that speaking is used as a vehicle to acquire other skills, such as listening, reading, and writing when the teachers adopt productive approaches to teaching, for example, communicative language teaching, silent way, or even audiolingual method. With regard to the role of speaking in facilitating the acquisition of other language skills, Goh and Burns (2012) claim that speaking enhances other skills. They illustrated that speaking is often used to examine if we listened to something effectively, or comprehension of reading is verified through speaking. Success in a career, to a large extent, is determined by how proficiently and effectively we use spoken English to communicate our thoughts and ideas with people in the management of the organization (Pandey & Pandey, 2014)

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Discussion

Conclusion