Teaching Grammar at the Tertiary Level in the Context of Bangladesh

Abstract

Experience of teaching English in Bangladesh exhibits that grammar is the least interesting learning item in classes. Students are taught fixed grammatical rules as a compulsory subject from the primary to tertiary level of education as mentioned in the syllabus. As a result, learners of English remain quite weak in grammar; they cannot use appropriate structures of grammar in spoken or written English even though they have completed English language courses at various educational institutions. The paper gives an effort to investigate the reasons for students’ failure in developing this linguistic skill of accuracy. To explore the subject matter of the study, small-scale data has been collected in the form of questionnaires and interviews both from the teachers and students of some renowned private universities in Bangladesh. The study tries to find out some probable solutions to improve the current level of learners in grammar. The study also identifies and examines that English teachers often face some challenges in teaching grammar namely lack of contextual interpretation of grammatical rules, rarely introduced new teaching methods, lack of experience, expectations of the students, lack of facilities, negative perceptions of the teaching of grammar and preparing grammar lessons. The researchers have put forward some pragmatic suggestions to overcome the existing barriers and challenges which will help the English language teacher to teach grammar according to the necessity of the students. The present study may serve as a good insight for other English lecturers and policymakers in overcoming the challenges regarding grammar teaching. The information have been collected from only a few private universities in Dhaka and Feni city. More in-depth study is essential to deal with the problems confidently.