Historical Influence on English Language Education at Secondary Level in Bangladesh: Insights from Policymakers

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Full text

Historical Influence on
English Language Education
at Secondary Level in Bangladesh:
Insights from Policymakers
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction
1
Researcher, College of Education, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Corresponding author:
English language education has been in practice in Bangladesh over the last
250 years. This article provides a critical account of the aims of English
language education as well as of the problems that obstruct the realisation of
those aims. Bangladesh inherits historical influences for the policy and practice
of the English language. This historic review is necessary as there is a lack of
comprehensive accounts or critiques of English language education in Bangla-
desh. Therefore, it is important to understand the historical traces of English
language education. In-depth interviews with policymakers were qualitatively
analysed to interpret the understandings, intentions, and expectations of the
policymakers and for English language education. The article finds the colonial
influence on secondary English education in Bangladesh. Although English for
Today (EfT) textbooks are aligned to the curriculum for the inclusion of oral
skills, they are not fully functional in classroom practice and the assessment
process due to the colonial influence. The article suggests future directions for
policy and practice of secondary English language education to meet the needs
of the Bangladeshi context. As the findings are only based on policymakers’
perspectives, it requires further research from practitioners’ perspectives to
explore new insights.
English language education, history of English language in Bangladesh,
colonial legacy, oral skills
S M Akramul Kabir, Researcher, College of Education, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Email: sm.kabir@pg.canterbury.ac.nz
Bangladesh is a developing country with an ancient history. It is a country of
South Asia linking a natural gateway between South and South East Asia. The
CIU Journal | 4(1) 1–16
S M Akramul Kabir1
The Country and its Languages

A Brief History
As far as English language education is concerned, the official website of the
Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education has described the historical
situation before the colonial period in Bangladesh, stating,
The objective of this paper is to examine English language education in
Bangladesh tracing its history and connecting the influence of history to the
present context. For this reason, the paper examines and interprets the under-
standings, intentions, and expectations of the policymakers for English
language education. This objective gives rise to the following research ques-
tion:
Research Objective
From ancient times to the Middle Ages, indigenous education was in vogue in this
subcontinent. Primary education was home-centred followed by Madrasha and
‘Toll’ (Higher education) education. Parsi, Sanskrit, and Pali languages were used
as the medium of education. Education then was based on practical needs along
with religious education. With the coming of British rule, the current education
system based on practical needs developed. (Directorate of Secondary and Higher
Education, 2018, p. 1)
How does the colonial imposition still influence English language education at
secondary level in Bangladesh?
The Constitution of the Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh recognised the word Bangla as the
state language of the country. Retrieved from http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/sections_de-
tail.php?id=367&sections_id=24550
2 CIU Journal 4(1)
country shares its border with India and Myanmar. It is almost 57,000 square
miles in size, making it the 95th largest country by area on earth. It stands as
the world’s eighth most populous country having more than one hundred and
sixty million people. The population is mostly homogeneous and monolingual.
The majority of people (98%) share the same culture and speak the same
language known as Bangla (the word “Bengali” is the anglicised version of
Bangla ) (Kabir, 2019). The minority 2% of the population comprises different
tribal communities. The minority tribal groups have their own and unique
tribal cultures and languages. From Grade 1, the English language is taught in
schools as a foreign language (Ministry of Education, 2010). However, English
is widely practised in the everyday life of the people in the country (Kabir,
2019). “The average annual growth of GDP in 2019 is 8.13 %, and the per
capita income of the country is USD 1,909” (Ovi, 2019, p. 1). The literacy rate
is approximately 61.3% for males and 52.2% for females of the total popula-
tion (BANBEIS, 2017).
2

English Language Education under the Pakistani Regime
Review of Literature
We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us
and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour,
but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. (as cited in Saraceni,
2015, p. 151)
Kabir 3
The English language in Bangladesh gained its root through British colonial
imposition. Charles Grant, the Director of the East India Company, in 1772,
implanted the idea to anglicise the people of Asiatic territories through English
education. He said. “By planting our language, our knowledge, our opinions,
and our religion in Asiatic territories, we shall put our great work beyond the
reach of contingencies” (Choudhury, 2001, p. 18). Later, being a member of
the Governor General’s council, Thomas Babington Macaulay in his “Minute
on Education” in 1835 advocated the superiority of the English language to the
indigenous languages of the Indian Subcontinent and urged the desirability of
disseminating Western learning, especially British literature, on the scaffold of
English language (Ghosh, 1993). The decision was a political one to prolong
the dominance of British rule in this subcontinent. Macaulay (1835), as a
mouthpiece of the then British regime, further stated:
Macaulay (1835) justified the move to establish the supremacy of European
cultures and literature over indigenous cultures and literature of the Indian
Subcontinent as follows: “A single shelf of a good European library was worth
the whole native literature of India and Arabia” (as cited in Momma, 2013, p.
97). Subsequently, in 1837, English was adopted by the East Indian Company
as the language of administration. As a result, English officially entered the
educational arena of the subcontinent. Since then, English as a medium of
instruction began to dominate the whole education system of the subcontinent.
After the departure of colonial forces in 1947, English studies were trans-
formed in the subcontinent, including Bangladesh, which was then the part of
Pakistan known as East Pakistan. Although English was still accepted by the
then Pakistan Government as an official language, there was a discordance
between East and West Pakistan on the issue of the national language (Amir,
2008). Bangla was the native language of then East Pakistan and Urdu was the
major language of West Pakistan (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014). This issue led
the people of East Pakistan to sacrifice their lives in 1952 to defend their native
language as West Pakistan sought to proscribe and replace it with Urdu as a
national language. Historically, the year 1952 is sanctified to initiate
Language Movement in Bangladesh. Later, the language movement is consid-
ered to be the catalyst to free the country from Pakistan in 1971. According to
Amir (2008), this conflict over the language issue later paved the way for the
independence of Bangladesh in 1971 by creating linguistic nationalism in
response to the then-West Pakistani domination. Bangla, as a language,
became a symbol for Bangladeshis both for their national identity and their
struggle against suppression and injustice.

English Language Education after Independence
It was not unexpected that Bangali Nationalism underpinned language and
education policies in a newly liberated country. As a result, “English thus lost
its status as a medium of educational instruction, which it had had until 1971,
and was replaced by Bangla at all levels of education” (Hamid & Baldauf,
2008, p. 20). Since the independence of Bangladesh, the country has not had a
language-in-education policy (Islam, 2015). Hence, the decisions related to the
English language-in-education policy in Bangladesh have consistently been
influenced by the determination and reflection of the existing government.
After the 1990s, due to the decision of the then government, English was
reinstated as a compulsory subject for education, trade, and commerce and
cross-cultural potential (Shamsuzzaman, 2015). The decision was underpinned
by the notion of “early exposure, better learning” of English (Phillipson, 1992)
which is further based on the critical period hypothesis, a concept that is heavi-
ly disputed yet widely accepted in the literature of language learning research
(Strid, 2017). However, the introduction of the English language from Grade
1 did not make a significant improvement in English proficiency among the
secondary students, which was evident in different research findings and
reported in newspapers as well (Al Amin, 2017; Islam, 2015).
English Language in the Education Policy of Bangladesh
Any language education policy involves macro-level policy which is related to
the national curriculum and micro-level implementation which is related to
classroom teaching practices (Basok, 2020). Over the last four decades, differ-
ent governments introduced different policies for English language education
in Bangladesh. Therefore, English language education has not been given a
consistent level of attention. The need for the English language was not
addressed directly from the time that the first Education Commission of
Bangladesh Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission , until the recent Nation-
al Education Policy 2010 (Choudhury & Kabir, 2014). The policy designed by
the first Education Commission emphasised the importance and necessity of
the English language in the curriculum and proposed to include English as a
subject from either Grade 3 or Grade 6. Whether English should be included
from Grade 3 or not was to be decided by the availability of trained teachers.
The Commission recommended that as Bangla was the national language of
Bangladesh, it should enjoy the status of a medium of instruction at all levels,
but English should be taught from primary to higher education levels as a
mandatory foreign language in the way it was taught before the independence
of the country (Podder, 2011). The Government in 1987 passed a law named
the Bengali Implementation Act to attach greater importance to Bangla
language. This law reduced the importance of the English language as it would
be considered illegal for anyone to put forward an appeal for official purposes
The Commission was formed in 1972 and submitted its report in 1974.
3
4 CIU Journal 4(1)

Methodology
This study is a qualitative one aiming to provide a detailed understanding of
issues that underlie current practices (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2018;
Chamberlain & Murray, 2017). The data were interpreted in two phases. The
initial phase investigates the curriculum policy documents and reports critical-
ly. In the second phase, policymakers were interviewed to understand why and
how colonial influence exists both in policy and practice. The interview data
were analysed using the Thematic Analysis (TA) method based on one of the
approaches called – the semantic approach – coding and theme development
reflect the explicit content of the data. After transcribing the data, the patterns
of the data were identified through a rigorous process of data familiarisation,
data coding, and theme development and revision (Figure 1).
in any other language than Bangla (Rukanuddin, 2014). It meant Bangla had to
be used for all purposes and at all levels of government. Hence, English was
withdrawn as a compulsory subject from the tertiary level. According to
Rahman et al. (2010), this was done by the religiously motivated military
regimes (1975 - 1990) to show the supremacy of the Bangla language, not for
the sake of the development of Bangla language but their political interest, so
that they could erase secularism to establish religious education that could be
used as an agenda for gaining the votes of religious people in electoral politics
by defeating the secular opponents. Later, the democratic practice was estab-
lished in the 1990s, and many significant changes and reforms were formulated
to bring back the secular spirit in the policy of education along with English.
English as a language gained its foothold again as a compulsory subject from
Grade 1 to the tertiary level in 1992 as a part of ongoing educational reform.
For the adaptation of the new policy, the National Curriculum and Text-
book Board (1996) conducted a survey in 1990 to evaluate the English profi-
ciency of learners from Grade 1 to Grade 12, but unfortunately, they found a
depressing scenario of English language education because of the damage
caused in the previous policies. Therefore, the government re-introduced
English for every level of its education.
At present, the goals of the National Curriculum for English (2012) are
made to align with the National Education Policy 2010. The policies consider
English as one of the means of transforming the country into Digital Bangla-
desh by 2021. The policies aim to achieve the goal of the government as the
English language can help contribute to the areas of national development,
such as “to achieve developments in science, technology, higher education,
business, industry and particularly in communications and IT skills” (National
Curriculum and Textbook Board, 2012, p. 73). Therefore, the importance of
the English language reaches out beyond the consideration of being a subject
taught at schools and colleges. Consequently, English is taught as a compulso-
ry subject in Bangladesh from Grade 1 to Grade 12. Moreover, it is taught as a
non-major course for students studying every discipline in tertiary education
(Rahman & Pandian, 2018).
Kabir 5

This paper used Thematic Analysis (TA) method to interpret because it is a
popular method for analysing qualitative data in many disciplines including
“Education.” In the field of education, procedures for using TA as a qualitative
technique only began to be published in the 1990s (Cohen et al., 2018). The
purpose of TA is to identify patterns of meaning across a dataset that provide
an answer to the research question being addressed. This method also gives
flexibility according to the practical need of analysis of what was required to
answer the specific research questions (Denzin, & Lincoln, 2011). This means
it can be used within different frameworks, to answer quite different types of
research questions.
Therefore, in this research, TA suits to answer the relevant research ques-
tion related to understanding and representation of colonial influence on
English language education in Bangladesh.
6 CIU Journal 4(1)
Figure 1 : Thematic Analysis of Qualitative Data
Source : Gormley et al. (2019)
Thematic Analysis
of Qualitative Data
Familiarisation with data
Identification of codes
Digging in the data for themes
Finalisation of themes
Review of themes
Interpretation of themes
Participants
As the policymakers are major players in the planning and development of
English language education, they are the interview participants in this study.
The “purposive” selection procedure has been applied to conduct the inter-
views. Three participants were interviewed in total. The author could not
manage more policymakers as participants. Firstly, reaching out to policymak-
ers for research purposes is challenging as they are in more powerful positions

The participants were provided with the information necessary about the study
through emails and their written consent was obtained back through emails
before data collection. To collect the qualitative data, a one-to-one interview
was conducted. Each interview continued for nearly an hour. Due to the partic-
ipants’ preferences, interviews were conducted in Bangla and were recorded
using an audio recorder. Later on, the recorded interviews were transliterated
in Roman Bangla and then translated into English. Regmi, Naidoo and Pilking-
ton (2010) suggest that researchers need to come up with accurate and valid
translations to engage with the meanings and discourses of the collected data.
The participants were asked about their understanding of English language
education policy, classroom practice of oral skills, and the apparent disconnect
between policy and practice in Bangladesh. The author reported findings based
on the interview data and relating them to other recent research findings.
Kabir 7
than the interviewer (Signal et al., 2018). Secondly, as the policymakers are
often under time constraints, it is often difficult to be flexible with both
appointment times and adapting the interview to the time available (Duke,
2002).
The participants were selected based on mainly three criteria: (1) relevant
expertise; (2) experience; and (3) willingness to participate. Pseudonyms are
used for each of them. Table 1 gives details of the participants.
Table 1. Profile of the Participants
Pseudonym
Curriculum
Expert1 (CE1)
Curriculum
Expert2 (CE2)
Content
Developer
(CD1)
Description of the participants
A member of the committee that
plans and frames the curriculum
for the secondary level
A member of the committee that
plans and frames the curriculum
for the secondary level
A person who develops educa-
tional content for the curricu-
lum proposed by the committee
Policymakers In-depth
Interview
Policymakers In-depth
Interview
Policymakers In-depth
Interview
Instrument
In this section, the author explores data related to the continuing colonial
legacy that influences the curriculum and the teaching of English, and the
factors involved in the quality of secondary English language education.
Findings
Source: The author.

Dr. Michael West wanted to introduce the Direct Method for English language
teaching. But seeing the condition, school teachers, and their competence, he
realised and understood the problem of teaching English through the Direct
Method. Then he developed a method called Reading Method. That became
popular all over the world later on.
Anyway, only in 1957, the structural syllabus is introduced that is also known as
a grammatical syllabus prepared by Ronald McCain for the East Pakistan School
Textbook Board. It is now called in Bangladesh the National Curriculum and
Textbook Board (NCTB).
8 CIU Journal 4(1)
In an extended interview, CE1, who has been working with the National
Curriculum and Textbook Board for the last 15 years in Dhaka and is an
English-subject adviser, discussed the colonial legacy. He noted, “The Gram-
mar-Translation Method was introduced by the British Raj in this subcontinent.
At that time, there was no known method except the Grammar-Translation
Method.”
CE1 then explains how, after the departure of the British colonial force in 1947,
English studies were transformed in the subcontinent, including the region that
would become Bangladesh. English was accepted by the then Pakistan Govern-
ment as an official language. Moreover, the curriculum for English language
education adopted the Grammar-translation method instead of the Direct
Method based on the structural syllabus or grammatical syllabus by the curricu-
lum of the East Pakistan Textbook Board in 1954. CE2 further stated,
CE1’s statement highlights how English language education in Bangladesh was
determined by being part of Pakistan and so was influenced by the structural
syllabus which actually underpinned Grammar-Translation-based English
education. Later, English education in independent Bangladesh took another
turn. After the independence of Bangladesh, Bangla, as a language, became a
symbol for Bangladeshis both for their national identity and their struggle
The use of the word, “British Raj” by CE1, indicates that the English
language was introduced by the colonial force. Later, CE1 discussed how
different methods had been introduced until CLT was adopted, and he empha-
sised the current importance of the English language in the curriculum. In
discussing the colonial legacy of English teaching methods, CE1 stated the
work of Professor Dr. Michael West, who, in 1920, was the first Principal of
Dhaka Teachers’ Training College and also became the Dean of the Faculty of
Education of Dhaka University when it was established in 1921.
Colonial Influence Continues in Secondary English Language Education
Michael West was the originator of Reading Method. While teaching in India, he
understood that the ability of reading fluently in English was more important that speaking
in English. For this reason, he developed Reading Method accentuating comprehension as
the main aim rather than the production of a language.
Maximilian Berlitz of Germany was the initiator of Direct Method. In this method, the
fundamental motto of a language learning is to learn the target language very much like the
learning of the first language without any translation between first and second languages.
5
4

After Independence, the first Education Commission known as Kudrat-e-Khuda
Education commission was formed in 1972. The Commission proposed to teach
the English language from Grade 6. The report of the Commission was formulated
and based on the socio-economic and political conditions and cultural heritage of
the country.
In the year 1976, the English Teaching Taskforce Commission opens the opportu-
nity to switch from the Grammar-Translation approach to a functional approach to
learn English by adopting a Functional syllabus for English education. Nonethe-
less, structure-based shifting was slow and the previous hangover prevailed until
the 1990s when a jointly ventured project named English Language Teaching
Improvement Project (ELTIP) came into function resulting in the inclusion of
communicative tasks to teach and functionally learn English in the textbooks
named English for Today for school and college levels. English was upheld as a
compulsory subject again from Grade 1 for its communicative need for education,
trade and economy, and international job market potentials.
9
CE1’s viewpoint indicates that the prioritisation of Bangla relegated the
English language to a state of less importance. His statement aligns with the
research of Hamid and Baldauf (2008) who identified the lost status of the
English language as a medium of educational instruction at all levels of educa-
tion after independence in 1971. However, CE2, a National Curriculum and
Textbook Board subject adviser who had worked as an English teacher-educa-
tor for 20 years at different government colleges, explained that there was a
change of status of the English language in terms of its importance. There was
also a revision of the English curriculum in 1976 when the English Teaching
Taskforce Commission was formed, but there was no immediate change from a
structural syllabus to a functional syllabus. CE2 stated,
CD1’s use of the term “traditional” is related to the continuing impact of the
colonial way of teaching and learning English through the means of English
literature. This approach was introduced in the colonial context to establish the
supremacy of English culture and society in the region. By stating some of the
I coordinated the textbook for a higher secondary. This actually happened as some
of the NCTB subject advisors of the English textbook, for example, Prof. Shahin
Kabir, Prof. Monjurul Islam, and Prof. Mostain Billah wanted to follow the
traditional literary piece-based English textbook for English language learning.
Both CE1’s and CE2’s statements indicate that the change in methodological
focus and policy of English language education was slow and unsteady in the
eras immediately preceding and following Bangladesh's independence. This
was due to successive changes in the political regime. The impact of the
politics of this era is also discussed in other published research. However, CD1,
who is one of the content developers for English textbooks, mentioned another
reason for this slow and unsteady change in policy and teaching approaches. He
stated,
against suppression and injustice. Therefore, it was expected that Bangali
Nationalism would underpin language and education policies in a newly liber-
ated country. CE1 stated this change,
Kabir

10 CIU Journal 4(1)
CE1’s statement signals that the policy related to English language education
in Bangladesh has shifted its focus to serve the practical need of the country for
learning English. However, CE1 further indicates that the implementation
process of the policy is hindered as some of the policymakers have a colonial
mindset and so are reluctant to change their established approach to learning
English by studying literature. CE1’s opinion renews the ontological tension
between the study of the English language and the study of English literature.
A number of research studies acknowledge that Applied Linguistics has
emerged as a separate branch of study to guide both teachers and students on
how to learn second languages and to explore how languages and human
communication work (Harris, 2001). This branch has evolved significantly in
the last two decades for teaching, learning, and researching languages (Akther
& Siddiqua, 2016; Grabe, 2012). Billah (2017) expressed his opinion different-
ly by saying that literary texts can be used in some cases if the texts can serve
the need for interactive language exercises with authentic English language
input to add an extra scope for the students to increase their practice of English.
However, in the advocacy of literature-based language learning, one of those
influential English textbook experts who were involved in the policy-making
process tried to maintain the traditional Grammar-translation approach for
better English learning. The influential textbook expert argued (Billah, 2017)
that secondary students could learn English in the same way that his generation
did. CE1 referred to that response in his account,
CE2 expressed a contrary opinion, saying,
names of the English textbook developers, CD1’s words signal that being the
product of the English literature-based language learners, most of the National
Curriculum and Textbook Board content developers of the English textbook
still lean towards that pedagogical approach to English education. However,
CE1 argued that the process and aim of the study of language and the study of
literature are different in terms of purpose and focus,
For teaching and learning the English language at the secondary level, the
paradigm has shifted from literature to language in the subcontinent along with
other EFL countries in Asia for a communicative purpose. Bangladesh also did the
same. However, some influential policymakers do not realise that. They suggest
that we should learn English through the study of literature. But we are trying to
make them understand this issue that the study of language and the study of litera-
ture has different focuses.
Some people think that, for example…I do not mention the name, I won’t mention
his name. Recently, he has written a newspaper article saying that CLT is a
complete failure in Bangladesh. He mentioned that we had learned English
through the Grammar-Translation method, and we have learned good English at
that time. Now the students are weak in English and they don’t have a basic
grammar sense of English. So, bring back the grammar-translation method. We are
facing this sort of disagreement about the methodological issue.

11
Moreover, CD1 also emphasised that Bangladesh has to look forward and make
its English language education policy compatible with the skills required for
the world.
CE1 highlighted that it was difficult to change this colonial notion of English
language education for political reasons.
This situation of political influence on language education is not a new
phenomenon in the Bangladeshi context. Earlier, CE1 commented on this issue,
saying that the country’s English language education policy was always guided
by the policymakers of a pro-ruling party and elite groups associated with the
existing government. Despite resistance from the advocates of the Gram-
mar-Translation approach, a CLT approach was embraced in alignment with
perceived linguistic needs for global participation.
The aspirations of the National Curriculum (1995; 2012) have been
supported by projects on English language education from Donor/BANA
countries. However, the concept of Communicative Language Teaching has
not been properly understood by the various stakeholders in English language
education in Bangladesh, and it appears that the ground is not ready for the
CLT approach. Philosophical conflicts about English language teaching meth-
ods, such as these, have generated confusion about CLT and particularly about
the necessary oral skills.
Underpinned by the perceptions of the participants, statements in policy and a
critical review of the literature, the following issues have been raised by the
policymakers.
Discussion
The irony of English education in Bangladesh is that the perception of learning the
English language through authentic and interactive English language input has not
yet been sprouted and we still follow the traditional rote learning of rules to learn
English based on grammar-translation.
After 47 years of our independence, we have come to this point for English educa-
tion. We have also a plan for the future to prepare a supplementary textbook
separately on listening and speaking skills and to distribute 50% of total marks (25
marks each) on oral skills to make our next generations fluent in English, as it is
the global language of the world.
True…the problem is that the old school of thought who advocate literature-based
textbooks for English teaching and learning are the products of literature based on
English education. Some of them are renowned as a literary genius in Bangladesh.
Moreover, they are politically very influential in decision-making. Some of them
have a very good connection with the Government. For this reason, they influence
the design of the content of English textbooks.
Kabir

...at this stage, greater stress has to be laid on English as a language rather than-
literature. English has to be learned as a medium for the exchange of ideas, and
modern and scientific methods…The special application of the language and its
phonetics have to be clearly learned, teachers must be well trained. (p. 14)
12 CIU Journal 4(1)
The English language education in Bangladesh went through several significant
changes at the policy level since its first Education Policy was proposed by the
Qudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission in 1972. It was an attempt to decolo-
nise the English language for the first time. In this regard, the commission
proposed several changes to bring in the policy. However, in reality, the chang-
es did not consistently comply with the policies proposed by the Commission.
Therefore, the colonial influence has continued. The Commission (BANBEIS,
1995) affirmed a focus on language education rather than literature to learn
English. The commission reinforced this idea by stating,
The commission wanted to create a generation of pupils who could convincing-
ly communicate with the people of the world, access its body of knowledge and
understand English books and journals at the higher stages of education. By
doing so, the commission clearly indicates that the teaching of English literary
texts for improving the critical understanding of learners is different from teach-
ing and learning the language for communicative competence. In May 1974, the
commission published its report to decolonise the education system for the first
time (Chowdhury & Kabir, 2014). However, the governments could not manage
to design textbooks accordingly. One of the major reasons is the continuation of
the colonial mindset regarding English language education. The policymakers
(CD1, CE1 & CE2) of this study still have a hangover from the concept that
English should be and can be better learned by studying English literature.
Hence, a dichotomy is observed between the directives of the policy papers and
the discourse of the policymakers regarding English language education. From
the participants’ voices, it is evident that in the subcontinent colonisers once
targeted English literature to transform and colonise the local culture and educa-
tion. It is generally believed that the way of learning the English language
means learning the language via English literature textbooks. However, it is
often ignored that the main purpose of teaching English is not to equip our
students to appreciate literature but to prepare them to be able to interact in
everyday life and actual social situations. From the findings, it is evident that
secondary students start learning English from Grade 1, but the expected profi-
ciency on their English language skills is not at all up to that standard which
could fulfil their need for communication at different spheres of social needs
including contemporary workplaces and higher education.
A colonial influence still prevails in the policy and practice of secondary
EfT textbooks. Therefore, the English textbooks for the secondary level heavily
depended on literature-based language learning from Bangladesh’s indepen-
dence until the National Curriculum 2012 was adopted. Since then, for the first
time, English textbooks have included oral skills for English language educa-
tion and have tried to make a shift from literature-based language learning to
language-based learning which are focused only on reading and writing skills of
English. Nonetheless, it is found in this study that oral skills are still ignored

Kabir 13
both in classroom practice and the assessment process in public exams. The
participants’ data indicate that due to the global need for communicative
competence, oral skills have been included in the textbook. However, the
colonial mindset of some of the policymakers leads them to focus on improving
reading and writing skills of English to learn the language undermining the need
for oral skills for language proficiency. In this regard, the influence of the
policymakers on the design and guidelines of the content of secondary English
textbooks seems responsible for not giving due attention to oral skills. For
example, there is no clear description of how oral skills are to be included and
assessed in the SSC examination. Moreover, most of the secondary teachers
have not received any specific training on how to teach oral skills at the second-
ary level. Although the policymakers advise the teachers to follow the English
for Today (EfT) textbooks for listening and speaking practice, they have not
provided the teachers with a booklet containing guidelines on how to do the
activities in a classroom. Neither the curriculum on secondary English nor the
EfT textbooks have included a sample question paper on assessing these two
skills. For this reason, oral skills have not been fully functional in the practice
and assessment process till now.
As there are not enough existing works on this area of research, the author
faced a challenge to evolve the discussion on this current issue. Furthermore, if
the discussion could include interviews from more academics across urban and
rural schools, it could come up with further interpretation to support the
discussed claims more adequately. This would help to gain deeper insight into
the reflection.
Knowledge of the historical development is useful in understanding a situation-
al context. If we know where we have been, we often can perceive where we
are and where we need to reach. The history of English language education in
Bangladesh has been the legacy of colonisation. The influence of colonial
legacy has still a considerable impact on policy and practice at secondary
English language education. For example, due to the colonial influence in
English language education, oral skills are still not functional in the classroom
and assessment process. The influence is perhaps heightened rather than
reduced by the impact of globalisation. The residual effects of history indicate
the causes of why Bangladesh is currently facing problems to implement its
current National Curriculum 2012 for English education in accordance with the
National Education Policy (NEP) 2010. The goals stated in NEP 2010 and the
curriculum reflect the country’s aspirations to become a middle-income coun-
try by 2021.
Although the colonisers introduced the English language in Bangladesh,
they did not formulate any clear language policy in the subcontinent at that
time. Besides, attitudes towards the teaching of the English language have been
influenced by changes in the country’s political regimes as different govern-
ments prioritise English or relegate it to a less important position. However, the
quality of English language learning has not changed as needed.
Conclusion

14 CIU Journal 4(1)
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