Studying English literature at graduation level
Sunday, 21 October 2007
M A Islam
"I wish I could have better basic knowledge of English language," said Sajibur Rahman, who is a student of the department of English language and literature in a public university. "I face difficulty in understanding various literature courses. Had I a solid base of this foreign language, I would have done much better. During HSC days, I even avoided poems since I was not obliged to read them for the exam. The poems in HSC should have been made compulsory," he continued to say.
Like Sajibur, many students doing honours in English literature in Bangladesh face difficulty in understanding courses. Many get admitted into their departments without the prior idea of the subject-without the knowledge what exactly they are going to study. Many get admitted with the confidence that they can manage. In reality, in most of the cases, students face very tough time in coping with the study of literature.
In school and college level, students' amount of reading English language is found to be very limited. "Students get very limited study materials. They do not have sufficient number of books. In most of the cases, they cannot buy books because of their financial limitations," said Manowar Hossain Murad, an English teacher at Government Asheq Mahmood College in Jamalpur.
Also teachers are not provided with enough teaching materials. Rich teaching materials, obviously, is of paramount importance for learning of a foreign language. "Teachers are not given overhead projectors, let alone multi-media projectors. They have to fight a lot to arrange white-board in the classroom in stead of traditional black board. They cannot use audio-cassette in the classroom thanks to insufficient funding," opined Manowar Hossain Murad.
Parents motivate their sons and daughters to get admitted into the department of English with the great expectation that when they will graduate, they will earn well in their working life. Unfortunately, they do not prepare their sons and daughters to be fit for studying literature. "The obvious result is: many students drop. Those who can survive, still face a difficult time," commented Manowar Hossain Murad.
The examination system is also not that supportive of the development of the language. As Sajibur Rahman observed: "Even a student can manage A+ in English in SSC and HSC without a solid base of the language. This is most unfortunate!"
There is a huge gap between the SSC and HSC English syllabus and syllabus of honors in English. "Many students cannot cope with the huge gap and find studying English literature uninteresting," Sajibur opined.
It is high time we trained English teachers on regular basis so that they can teach better. Also, teachers should be given enough teaching materials. It needs to be ensured that students get enough study materials at an affordable cost. The school and college libraries should be rich and attractive to the students so that they feel encouraged to learn English language.
It is only a solid base of the language that can help a student effectively take honours and higher degree in English literature.
"I wish I could have better basic knowledge of English language," said Sajibur Rahman, who is a student of the department of English language and literature in a public university. "I face difficulty in understanding various literature courses. Had I a solid base of this foreign language, I would have done much better. During HSC days, I even avoided poems since I was not obliged to read them for the exam. The poems in HSC should have been made compulsory," he continued to say.
Like Sajibur, many students doing honours in English literature in Bangladesh face difficulty in understanding courses. Many get admitted into their departments without the prior idea of the subject-without the knowledge what exactly they are going to study. Many get admitted with the confidence that they can manage. In reality, in most of the cases, students face very tough time in coping with the study of literature.
In school and college level, students' amount of reading English language is found to be very limited. "Students get very limited study materials. They do not have sufficient number of books. In most of the cases, they cannot buy books because of their financial limitations," said Manowar Hossain Murad, an English teacher at Government Asheq Mahmood College in Jamalpur.
Also teachers are not provided with enough teaching materials. Rich teaching materials, obviously, is of paramount importance for learning of a foreign language. "Teachers are not given overhead projectors, let alone multi-media projectors. They have to fight a lot to arrange white-board in the classroom in stead of traditional black board. They cannot use audio-cassette in the classroom thanks to insufficient funding," opined Manowar Hossain Murad.
Parents motivate their sons and daughters to get admitted into the department of English with the great expectation that when they will graduate, they will earn well in their working life. Unfortunately, they do not prepare their sons and daughters to be fit for studying literature. "The obvious result is: many students drop. Those who can survive, still face a difficult time," commented Manowar Hossain Murad.
The examination system is also not that supportive of the development of the language. As Sajibur Rahman observed: "Even a student can manage A+ in English in SSC and HSC without a solid base of the language. This is most unfortunate!"
There is a huge gap between the SSC and HSC English syllabus and syllabus of honors in English. "Many students cannot cope with the huge gap and find studying English literature uninteresting," Sajibur opined.
It is high time we trained English teachers on regular basis so that they can teach better. Also, teachers should be given enough teaching materials. It needs to be ensured that students get enough study materials at an affordable cost. The school and college libraries should be rich and attractive to the students so that they feel encouraged to learn English language.
It is only a solid base of the language that can help a student effectively take honours and higher degree in English literature.