As an international language English plays a significant role in the era of globalization. However, learning English is always a challenging task in a developing country like ours. To create a better opportunity for learning English the Government has taken many ELT policies and actions during the last 44 years of our independence. As a compulsory subject students have to learn English for twelve years. Besides this, 100 marks English has been a compulsory subject at undergraduate level. But yet overall standard of students on English is not at all satisfactory, as most students fail to acquire all the four basic language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing equally. Before introducing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in 1996, the main methods of teaching English was grammar-translation, where English is presented in the classroom in a traditional way. Here only two language skills such as reading and writing is given much emphasis, other two skills, listening and speaking, is given less priority. This is why students fail to achieve the command on listening and speaking skills.
Considering this point of view and making the ELT curriculum more effective and international standard, government took initiatives to introduce CLT based curriculum at the school level in 1996. Though there were many barriers to implementing this curriculum, yet it has created better opportunity for both the teachers and students to come out from the traditional teaching to more activity based teaching. This approach is very much student-centred as it encourages both the teachers and the students to teach and learn through different activities.
According to NCTB (2012) curriculum guidelines; the objectives of teaching-learning of English have undergone radical changes over the past two decades in Bangladesh. Today the need for learning English for communication in a global world - be it for trade, commerce, job market, medical assistance, higher education or access to information - is indispensable. Being able to use language for effective communication in real life situations locally and globally has become the prime purpose for learning English as a foreign language. Currently the role of English as a foreign language is grooming the school goers as human resources compatible for a digitised society. The English curriculum at the secondary level has been designed in the light of the general objectives stated in the 'National Education Policy 2010' for learning English as a foreign language. According to the curriculum report of the 'National Curriculum and Textbook Board' (NCTB, 2012), the communicative method has been introduced in the secondary and higher secondary level. This method focuses on four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and aims to address participatory based activities in the classroom situation.
Though communicative approaches have been introduced in the language curriculum, most teachers till today prefer to follow the traditional grammar-translation method that mainly focuses on the syllabus which is to be completed within a set time with the sole aim of obtaining higher scores in the examination. There is a significant gap between the learners' needs and expectations and teachers' teaching methods.
The same is true for writing. In the teaching and assessment of writing skills, students are encouraged to write on the requirements for the examination only. Though there are some practices of guided and semi-guided writing in the classroom, students have limited opportunities in the classroom to practise creative writing. Students are expected to write according to the prescribed set of questions that reflect the content for passing the examination and obtaining a high score. Limited vocabulary knowledge results in students' facing difficulties in constructing sentences for developing ideas regarding the particular topic. Besides this, they do not have enough grammatical knowledge and accuracy with the mechanics of writing. The focus is frequently on the grammatical errors in their writing.
The government has recently taken a number of initiatives to ensure the quality of education and to bring some positive changes in the assessment system. Teaching Quality Improvement (TQI_SEP, MoE), a development organisation has been working since 2005, to improve the quality of secondary education. The organisation has been developing training programmes for subject based teachers, head teachers, educational administrators both in Bangladesh and abroad. TQI has managed to develop subject based training modules for the teachers. It has also developed a curriculum and syllabus for the one year B Ed training programme under the National University in Bangladesh.
Besides this, a number of projects such as 'English Language Teaching Improvement Project' (ELTIP), English in Action (EiA), Secondary Education Quality and Access Enhancement Project (SEQAEP), Secondary Education Sector Development (SESDP) have been organising language teacher training to improve the teaching and learning of English in Bangladeshi schools. To train teachers as an on-going process the government needs to develop permanent infrastructure and institutional capacity.
In the new education policy 2010 the Bangladesh government has addressed some major changes in the education system. Therefore, the government should allocate more financial support to set up effective, supportive infrastructures, particularly in thrust areas, to strengthen capacity building of the teachers to operationalise the new policy as a possible effective way to make education truly useful for the economy.
Though CLT has been introduced at the secondary level for about nineteen years, yet most teachers are still not well informed about the system. Besides this, because of the gap between the stated objectives of teaching English and the assessment system, communicative based language teaching is not working well because of teachers' level of competency and want of effective classroom environment. As a language researcher and teacher trainer I have been working with the secondary level English language teachers for the last 18 years. I believe that teachers' attitude is also responsible for inefficient implementation of CLT based teaching learning at schools. Though a very few teachers have started working with the approaches of new ELT curriculum, most cases teachers feel free in teaching using 'Traditional methods', as it needs little preparation to conduct the class. Teachers need not use teaching materials as he/she can use mother tongue to explain everything including grammar, vocabulary and other issues. My experience says even teachers from renowned schools, both in cities and outside cities, in most cases do not teach English in the class using CLT approaches that is engaging students in group work, pair work, demonstration, role play, making dialogues etc. English is a skill-based subject rather than theory-based one. So a teacher should have clear understanding about each and individual skills and he/she should know how to teach these skills effectively in the class. This is why our students fail to speak and write clearly even after passing SSC, HSC and graduate level.
My experience says most students are running after 'coaching centres' and 'private tutors' to get better scores in the exams where colourful sheets are provided by them. Colourful notebooks, guidebooks, suggestion books are the main sources of learning English. Students practice these sheets and get better score in the public exam but in reality they are not fundamentality developed in English. I think 'coaching centres' and 'private tuition' are also responsible for not teaching English effectively in the class. The present government took initiatives against these practices but these are still going on in full swing.
Another most vital and fundamental issue is that NCTB English for Today for 9-10 is written based on communicative approaches which focus on four language skills. As English is a skill-based subject, so practices of each and every lesson would enhance students' development especially on the above mentioned skills. But reality is that NCTB curriculum guidelines say no comprehension will be set for examination from the given text. This is why both teachers and the students have lost their interest to teach the book effectively in the classroom rather they have become dependent on the guide books that flood the market. This dependency on the guide books is damaging students' standard of learning English. Though most students get GPA-5 in English, actually their quality is questionable.
Therefore to bring an effective change all concerned including teachers, parents, community people, school administration and the government especially Ministry of Education should work together so that our nation can produce useful manpower to build the future nation.
The writer is an Associate Professor of English, DSHE, MoE & PhD Research Fellow at Department of English, Jahangirnagar University. E-mail: [email protected]
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