Teaching English in Rural schools: A Case Study of Three Primary

Schools in Bangladesh

By
Morsheda Sharmin
16363008

MA in ELT and Applied Linguistics

Department of English and Humanities
BRAC UNIVERSITY
April 2019

© 2019. Morsheda Sharmin

All rights reserved.
Declaration

I declare that the Dissertation titled “Teaching English in Rural schools: A Case Study of Three

Primary Schools in Bangladesh” is submitted while completing Master of Arts in ELT and

Applied Linguistics under the Department of English and Humanities at BRAC UNIVERSITY.

This paper does not contain any material previously published without citation of accurate

references. This paper presents the results of my original investigation and is not submitted for

any other degree at any institution.

Student’s Full Name & Signature:

________________________________________
Morsheda Sharmin
16363008

i
Approval

This thesis titled “Teaching English in Rural schools: A Case Study of Three Primary Schools in

Bangladesh” is submitted by

Morsheda Sharmin (16363008)

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in ELT and Applied

Linguistics at the Department of English and Humanities on 10 April, 2019.

Examining Committee:

Supervisor:
_______________________________
(Member)
Md Al-Amin, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of English & Humanities
Brac University

External Expert Examiner:

_______________________________
(Member)
Ibrahim Hossain
Associate Professor of English
University of Chittagong

Departmental Head: _______________________________

(Chair) Professor Firdous Azim, PhD
Chairperson, Department of English & Humanities
Brac University

ii
Ethics Statement

My study titled “Teaching English in Rural Schools: A Case Study of Three Primary Schools in

Bangladesh” is my original work and all the data used in this research are collected by myself.

Maximum caution was taken to ensure the authenticity of this research and participants’ statements

were checked several times before using them in this thesis. Published materials are used with

proper citation. The purpose of the research was explained to the participants and once they gave

their consent to participate voluntarily, only then their interviews were recorded.

iii
Abstract

This study explored opportunities and difficulties of teaching English in rural primary schools in

Bangladesh. Rural schools are lagged behind in many ways than the city schools. Most of the cases

there is hardly any modern facilities available in those schools. Moreover, these schools have

hardly any trained and qualified English teachers. As a result the condition of English teaching in

those schools are very poor. Qualitative research design is used for this study as I wanted to

understand the phenomena in depth and it allows me to present a rich picture of English teaching

in rural schools. Interviews, classroom observation and focus group discussion are the three

instruments of data collection. The significance of this study lies in presenting a rich and detail

description of the teaching English in rural schools. Although it may not be appropriate to

generalize English teaching in rural areas based on data from three schools, this study provides

valuable data of teaching English in rural areas. It also suggested some ways to overcome these

barriers. Finally some recommendations were made for different stakeholders so that it helps to

improve the teaching and learning situations in the rural primary schools.

Keywords: Difficulties, rural areas of Bangladesh, qualitative approach, primary level,

classroom, teaching strategies, naturalistic inquiry, language competency level

iv
Acknowledgement

All praises for the Almighty for giving me the patience to complete this study successfully.

I am thankful to ENH department for allowing me to pursue my MA in ELT and Applied

Linguistics with the support of modern facilities and techniques.

My gratitude to my supervisor Md. Al-Amin Sir whose incessant support and guideline helped me

to accomplish this study. His constructive observations and prompt e-mail replies helped me a lot

to progress faster. Availability of meeting appointments and his confidence over my capability

supported me to complete the study with an ease.

At last I want to express my gratefulness to my mother, mother-in law- and my husband who have

supported and motivated me since I got admitted in Brac University for the degree of Master of

Arts in ELT and Applied Linguistics till the completion of my thesis.

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Table of Contents

Declaration……………………………………………………………………………….……….i

Approval………………………………………………………………………………………….ii

Ethics Statement……………………………………………………...…………………………iii

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..iv

Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………………………..v

Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………..vi

List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………………….ix

List of Acronyms…………………………………………………………………………………x

Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………...……………………………….……….1

1.1 Context…………………………………………………………….………...……2

1.2 Why Rural Areas…………………………………….………………………...….4

1.3 Why Primary Schools…………………………….……………………………….5

1.4 Organization of Dissertation...................................................................................6

Chapter 2 Literature Review………………….…….…………………………………......……8

2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………….……….8

2.2 Historical Background……………………………………………….…………..12

2.3 Recent status of Teaching English in Primary…………………………..……….14

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Chapter 3 Methodology…………………………………………………….……..………17

3.1 Introduction……………………………………...………………………….……17

3.2 Research Design…………………………………………….……………………17

3.3 Setting……………………………………………….…………...………………18

3.4 Participants………………………………………..………………………..…….19

3.5 Instruments………………………………………..…………………..………….19

3.5 Data Collection Procedure…………………………….…………………………20

3.6 Data Analysis……………………………………….………………...………….22

3.7 Ethical Consideration…………………………...…………………………….….23

Chapter 4 Findings…………………………………………………………….…...……..24

4.1 Introduction…………………………….………………………….……………..24

4.2 Research Questions………………………………………………………………24

4.3 Limitations of Teachers………………………………….………………………24

4.4 Issues in Class Management………………………..……………………………29

4.5 Limitations of School Infrastructure………..…………………………………....30

4.6 Limitations in Implementing Curriculum…………………………..……………31

4.7 Limitations of Parents and Students of Rural areas………………………..…….33

4.8 Analysis of Findings…………………………………………….……………….34

Chapter 5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………..………43

Recommendations…………………………………….………………………………….44

References…………………………………………………….……………………………46

Appendix A……………………………………………….……………………..…………50

Appendix B…………………………………………….………………………………..…51

vii
Appendix C…………………………………………….……………………………..……52

Appendix D………………………………………….…………………………………..…54

viii
List of Tables:

Table 1 Participant List……………………….……………………………………...…..………19

ix
List of Acronyms:

NGO Non-Government Organization

ELTIP English Language Teaching Improvement project
DEID Department of International Development
CLT Communicative Language Teaching
EFL English as Foreign Language
FGD Focus Group Discussion
BANBEIS Bangladesh Bureau of Educational Information and
Statistics
PTI Primary Teacher Training Institute
GPS Government Primary School
RNGPS Registered Non-Government Primary School
ELT English Language Teaching
GTM Grammar Translation Method
NCTB National Curriculum and Textbook Board
HSC Higher Secondary Certificate
SSC Secondary School Certificate
BA Bachelor of Arts
MA Master of Arts
EFT ENGLISH FOR TODAY

x
Chapter 1
Introduction

Today’s modern world has transported English language to different parts of the world. Instead of

being owned, understood and used by only the speech communities who claim English language

as their mother tongue, it is used throughout all over the globe. Considering this increasing usage

and importance of English in international modernization, the makers of Bangladesh Education

Policy mandated teaching English in classroom from primary level of education system. The

government along with the Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), and other educational

organizations in Bangladesh have been putting efforts to cope up with the global modernization

by ensuring the better quality of English teaching in the country since 1990s (Farooqui, 2012;

2008). But the learners’ competency level is not up to mark due to different teaching issues

especially in rural parts. English language learners of Bangladesh need to be taught, cared and

motivated in a proper manner from very beginning of their education life. That is why issues of

teaching English at primary level should be sorted out at first.

Considering the importance of learning English properly at primary level, I attempted to find out

some major barriers which are responsible for creating difficulties in the language teaching

process. At first I have discussed the context of English language teaching at primary schools of

Bangladesh in this introductory chapter. Then I have explained the reason of choosing to work on

primary level. After that, the reason of choosing the rural areas is discussed. Finally I have

presented the organization of the whole dissertation paper at the last portion of this chapter.

1
1.1 Context

Bangladesh is a mono lingual country. People of this country use Bangla for almost every

purposes here. People living in urban areas use English for official or administrative purpose. But

people who live in rural areas mostly are engaged in agricultural works. They need not to use

English for any purpose. At home or work they use only Bangla. As a result, students of primary

schools are always surrounded by Bangla language. Though the students encounter some words

and sentences in English at their classroom that does not have any impact on their practical life.

Students do not get any environment to practice English outside the class. According to National

Curriculum and Textbooks Board (2012), the foremost objectives of teaching English language at

primary classrooms in Bangladesh are to enable students to understand simple commands,

instructions and requests in English and also carry them out. But the actual scenario of rural

primary level classrooms does not match with these teaching objectives. Lack of practice make the

learners incompetent in language performance.

In Bangladesh the requirement for primary teachers is only SSC qualification. Teachers also lack

proper training on specific subject. These two reasons cause to teach English through Grammar

Translation Method in rural classrooms. Here, teachers read a topic in English and translate that to

Bangla. Students are ask to memorize the grammatical structures to pass the exam. Thus, English

language learning appears before the young learners as a tougher subject. Learners feel pressurized

to learn it as they have a stress to get passed. This pressure often lead the learners to unlike the

language and its learning processes.

In Bangladeshi context, it is a well-known and appreciated practice to make listen what teachers

speak in the classroom. Both teachers and learners find it comfort to practice this type of teaching-

2
learning process. When this process is applied, an English language classroom becomes teacher

centric. In that way, learners feel uneasy to communicate with teacher as everyone in the class

remain silent. They only listen to what teachers say. This causes a gap between learners and

teachers which has a big impact on language learning act. Teachers find it difficult to understand

whether the students have understood a topic or not. Learners’ understanding level, liking or

disliking, any query about a topic remain unknown to teachers. This lack of enough knowledge

about each student in a classroom cause to make a language class ineffective one.

Although government of Bangladesh has progressed in primary education in terms of enrollment

of students but still there is a large amount of learners failing to be primary graduate. One of the

major reasons behind that is a feeling of unease and discomfort about English learning. Children

of rural areas of Bangladesh, like to study Bangla, Social Science, Religion or even Mathematics

but they avoid to study English. Vocabulary, sentence structure, spelling pattern seem strange and

difficult and new to them. Even they feel shy to discuss their lacking areas with teachers because

of this uneasiness. This is a common scenario in Bangladeshi rural primary school classrooms.

However, considering the present status of language teaching strategies mentioned above and the

global usage of English, NCTB has taken some steps to level up learners’ language competency.

The steps are basically based on the organization of new textbooks for developing the

Communicative approach in language classrooms.

 Some basic expressions needed for social interaction have been included in ENGLISH

FOR TODAY (EFT) book.

 Emphasis has been put on speaking and listening skills by adding some communication

based lessons.

 Filling up forms of different practical purpose has been included from grade-V.
3
  Themes of lessons related to practical life have been introduced. For example, making a

dish with the use of recipe, meeting with a doctor for prescription etc.

 With a view to developing the pronunciation, listening and speaking skills suggestions

have been given for including video/audio materials.

 Different types of communicative activities have been selected for textbook topics such

as, teacher-learner interaction.

For teachers there are also some suggestion by NCTB,

 Training for primary teachers should work for improving teachers’ own language skills.

 Training should train teachers how to involve learners in classroom activities.

 Special training should be introduced for the improvement of teachers’ pronunciation.

 A suggestion have given for including a sample English language class in Teachers’

Guide.

In this present context, my study will look for the limitations of English language teaching in

primary schools of rural areas in Bangladesh.

1.2 Why Rural Areas?

Most of the inhabitants of Bangladesh (about 68%) live in rural parts of the country. Rural people

are not privileged as the way people of urban areas are. In village areas a wide range of people are

struggling to survive in their day-to-day life because they are deprived of most of the modern

associates of this modern era. But urban people continue a more facilitated to some extent

luxurious life with the use of those modern things. That is why, they are getting comparatively

more advantages as well as opportunities to get educated themselves while rural people are lacking

4
those. However, with a view to reaching the expected level of literacy rate in a country it is

essential to ensure education for every strata of people. In case of educating English language in a

monolingual country like Bangladesh, more efforts need to put as number of population is more.

In Bangladesh most of the people dwell in rural areas and learners from these arena encounter

English learning only inside classroom but outside they deal and are dealt with Bangla only. This

situation is more applicable for the rural areas as urban students are surrounded with the gifts of

science and technology. For example, satellite channels, English newspapers, advertisements or

posters presented in English language, more access on internet and so on. Thus urban learners get

closer to English language frequently. Moreover, parents of urban learners are educated enough to

help their children in any language learning issues. In that way the process of language teaching

takes place faster and easily in city areas. But, learners living in rural parts are not surrounded with

these types of language learning supports. Besides, primary teachers of English language of remote

areas of Bangladesh are facing difficulties to provide learners with better quality of teaching

because they deal with a lot of limitations in language teaching activity. The intention of my paper

is to focus on those limitations and find some prospects as well.

1.3 Why Primary School?

I selected primary school to conduct my work because it is primary level which builds the

foundation of future workforce of a nation. Primary school forms the base of a learner’ education

life. It is most important to ensure the quality of primary school teaching. Primary teaching helps

to shape up learners’ social behavior and it works for their intellectual development. It is the stage

where only teachers are responsible for both teaching and learning process. That is why teachers

5
of primary schools must be selected in a more sensible way. There are many students who nip in

the bud before finishing primary level of education in Bangladesh. Mostly students from rural

background are failing to perform in learning according to their age and level. But it is not only

the teachers for whom students’ competency is hampered. There lie a variety of issues behind

learners’ low acquisition of English language in primary level also. These issues are responsible

for creating limitations in the act of language teaching in primary schools. Teachers are failing to

provide the learners with a quality language teaching because of those limitations. Finding out the

limitations is the foremost priority of my present study.

1.4 Organization of Dissertation

The study is consisted of five chapters in total. First chapter starts with an introductory paragraph.

That paragraph introduces readers with the focus of my paper. It includes present context of

English language teaching in rural primary schools of Bangladesh. After explaining the context I

preferred to make readers clear why I chose rural areas for my study. Then I explained the reason

of choosing primary schools of Bangladesh for my work. The second chapter is the review of

literature which I started with an overview of the experimental studies. Those studies reflect many

ideas intensely related to my dissertation topic. After that I mentioned historical background of

English language and this chapter turns into an end by discussing the present status of English

language teaching in Bangladesh. Third chapter is the methodology chapter which describes when,

how and from where I collected data for my study. This chapter also discusses how I analyzed the

collected data. Fourth chapter reflects the theme based findings from collected data with a critical

analysis of the themes. At the last part of that chapter, the ideas shared from participants to

6
overcome the limitations of teaching English in village schools are mentioned. Finally the last

chapter concluded the proposed study with some recommendations from my side.

7
Chapter 2

Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The elevated status of English in the whole world has urged to teach English as a subject from the

very beginning of the Bangladeshi education system. According to the revised declaration of

Bangladesh education policy-2010, more emphasis has been put on learning English as an

international language. This international language is helpful to communicate locally as well as

globally (Milon, 2016). Lockheed & Verspoor (1991), emphasized over language teaching by

saying that, virtually in almost all primary education systems, language teaching seeks for a

significant space, and more than 50 percent of the schedule and exertion are spent to teach basic

literacy and numeracy as well. Teaching a language requires a proficient teacher at first. Orafi &

Borg (2009) preferred for the high qualification of primary teachers because it significantly

impacts teaching process. Nunan (2003) explains that the current trend of teaching English which

is the communicative approach cannot be applied properly due to a lack of educators with higher

proficiency level in English. Nunan precisely expressed that this situation is prominent in village

areas particularly. He thinks, it is only because of unavailability of proficient teachers in village

areas. Korean investigator, Kang (2008) shows that primary teachers use both English and the

native language for many pedagogical reasons in classroom because they lack proficiency. This

indicates that the use of English language in a language classroom is basically determined by

teachers’ level of mastery over English. If a teacher is enough proficient in English language skills

he or she will prefer to speak in English in classroom. In the field of teaching a language, teachers

are called upon to perform a variety of roles. According to Harmer (2007),

8
 In the language learning classroom, a teacher needs to replicate the situation as closely as

possible and then provide sufficient support to learners, to be a controller, prompter, participant,

resource, tutor, feedback provider so as to identify the students’ problems and should be able to

switch between these roles.

It is the decision of a teacher that determines when and why it is appropriate to play those roles

mentioned by Harmer. But rural primary teachers are unable to take the right decision at right time

as they lack of enough qualification and proper training over language teaching.

In the words of Joyce and Weil (2004), teachers are the professionals who are directly engaged in

facilitating learners’ learning process. They are the helping hands who support students to

construct ideas, solve issues using their metaphorical thoughts and encourage them to be positive

and make them skillful in all branches of knowledge. But in order to support the learners, teachers

need to be well trained at first. In accordance with an investigation of BANBEIS (2007), Primary

Teacher Training Institutes (PTIs) are the only agencies that offer in-service teacher development

program or training for the teachers of primary schools in Bangladesh. These sole agencies have

the capacity of enrolling only 13,025 trainees every year which is much less than the actual

demand. This training is confined within the in-service teacher community but there is not any

arrangement for pre-service teachers training in Bangladesh. Pre-service teachers training is

helpful for a better outcome from a language teacher at early stage of teaching life. In the study of

Mullick & Sheesh (2008), it is mentioned that the qualification or requirement of Bangladeshi

government for primary school teachers (Government Primary School, GPS and Registered Non-

Government Primary School, RNGPS) is Bachelor degree for male and SSC for female (recently

it is revised, both require Bachelor degree). No professional training is mandatory for them. Once

the teachers get the appointment they start teaching and then are sent to PTI to receive professional

9
training. However, there are two different studies by Ahmed, et al (2005) & Haq (2006), which

investigated that a mentionable percentage of teachers of primary level (26-27%) are not trained

at all. The study of BANBEIS, (2007), refers that primary teachers are used to teach multiple

subjects in classes. But only a few teachers, approximately 27-30% of GPS and 30-33% of RNGPS

receive training on specific subject. Moreover, teachers have a wide range of shortcomings in their

knowledge of teaching content and basic grammatical techniques. That means the content

pedagogy of teachers is insufficient. This is more applicable for the primary teachers of rural areas.

Their lack of enough training on teaching keeps them unaware of the processes through which

teaching becomes smooth and turns out with a fruitful outcome. Sultana (2018), reveals that GPS

teachers of rural areas of Bangladesh are observed in classroom giving mere feedback underlining

the mistakes and errors with red mark in the exam copies of learners. But teachers rarely provide

any constructive or inspirational comments for correct writing. Village GPS teachers are

preoccupied mostly with a prevailing sense of grammatical accuracy rather than the development

of innovative ideas. Learners feel hesitate to share their opinions, view or any idea about related

lesson lest they make any grammatical error. Teachers’ this type of attitude to young learners

hinders the spontaneous process of language learning. Thus lack of proficiency and proper training

on English create barrier to support learners with necessary inputs and efforts.

In nineteenth century, when language specialists and linguists thought about the improved or better

quality of teaching a language, they used to refer to general principles and theories concerning the

nature of language learning. The early theorists and specialists such as, Otto Jespersen (1860-

1943), Harold Palmer (1877-1949) developed principles and theoretically accountable approaches

to the design of language teaching programs, courses and materials although many of the particular

practical details were left for others to work on. These early linguists were in search of easy ways

10
to learn new vocabulary and simple grammar of English language, but none of them witnessed the

ideal embodiment of their ideas in any existing method (Richards & Rodgers, 2014). Banu (2009)

states in her article that language learning cannot be successful if it is considered as a subject to

read or memorize to write. It is not possible to know all the grammar of a language by following

only rules or methods rather she tells that language can be acquired by using it in real life. Learning

a language becomes successful when it is used for practical purpose because it is the medium of

making communication. She thinks that the main purpose of teaching a language should be

enabling students to communicate with the target language. Students must be able to express their

needs, necessities, feelings, thoughts and ideas to others using that. However, it has long been a

challenge for researchers to develop an effective method or guideline to acquire adequate literacy

skills in target language (Torgesen et al., 2001). In case of Bangladesh where colonial legacy has

been maintained since decade, inhabitants of Bangladesh are encouraged to use English for

practical purpose. For example, administrative, professional or educational purposes (Rahman, &

Karim, 2015). These practical needs in the country demanded to introduce a guideline for learners

which adjusts with its culture (Banu, 2009). That is why the National Curriculum and Textbook

Board (NCTB) structured an improved syllabus and published the guidelines to design textbooks

and teaching materials accordingly. Furthermore, it has revised the evaluation policy and

developed several assessment tools and examination formats to help measure students' ability to

use English in communication (Mohanlal, & Sharada, 2004). But this new curriculum needs

teachers with a good level of proficiency, adequate teaching materials, allocation of enough

resources, well equipped classroom, smart management of school education system, well

organized pedagogic plan etc. Lack of any of these needs can be responsible for low outcomes

from learners. On the other hand, Sultana & Ahsan, (2013) state,

11
 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) was introduced to develop students’ four

skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in a communicative context in

Bangladesh. CLT focuses mainly classroom activities, which based on communicative

methods like group work, task-work, and filling the information gap.

But according to studies by national and international researchers, in village areas primary

graduates are failing to follow the new curriculum successfully and learn language skills to use

effectively (Snow, Burns & Griffin, 1998; Ahmed & Nath, 2005).

There are a large number of contributors working behind primary students’ low acquisition of

English language. This topic will be broadly discussed in the fourth chapter of my paper.

2.2 Historical Background of English in Bangladesh

According to Sultana (2018), language plays a vital role in the management of power and balancing

or maintaining the relationship at the interpersonal, social or local and the global level at the same

time. English becomes a lingua franca by the end of twentieth century and was widely used for

international communication among the people who do not speak this language and have English

as a second or third language. According to the report of Curriculum Committee-1962, in 1947

when the two nation states India and Pakistan created their own separate existence in the map of

the world, the question of language raised with a strong voice. When India opted for Hindi then

being a Muslim prioritized country Pakistan preferred Urdu as mother tongue. On 21st February in

1952, a strong protest was made from the East Pakistan to establish Bangla as the state language.

On that day, after the tragic shooting death, both Bengali and Urdu took place as the state languages

of Pakistan. Then neither Bangla nor Urdu but English became the only common way to

12
communicate between East and West Pakistan. Thus circumstances opened the way for English to

establish its status in Pakistan period as the second language. After that at secondary schools in

Pakistan it was introduced as a functional language. The educated or even fairly educated people

were instructed to use English for administrative purpose, professional issues, educational and

other purposes. However, when Bangladesh became independent after the war of liberation in

1971, the official status of the English language replaced by Bangla and Bangladesh became a

monolingual country. Bangla owned the position of using in every sphere of social and public

affair. But in recent days English has regained an important unofficial status in Bangladesh

(Salahuddin, 2013). Nowadays along with the use of Bangla in many government, semi-

government and private organizations English is being used for almost every purposes (Ainy,

2001). Considering the importance of English, government of Bangladesh combined the existed

English teaching processes with the ‘Communicative Approach’ since 1970s. Government wanted

to ensure English learning for all strata of people in the country. But, after long four decades of

launching the Communicative approach, the linguists, teachers, students and educational

researchers are in big confusion about the actual outcome of the approach particularly from rural

learners (Kabir, 2014).

In 1998, the new English language curriculum was established as a part of the project named

(ELTIP) English Language Teaching Improvement Project. The project in collaboration with the

Department of International Development (DEID) aimed at to bring changes in textbook,

examination format and in-service teacher training program. It also had a focus to relocate

teaching-learning process of English language from a traditional structure-based approach to a

function-based or communicative approach. Though textbooks have been published according to

13
the new approach but the question about following those books and new curricula remains

unexplained.

2.3 Recent Status of Teaching English at Primary Level

In rural primary schools of Bangladesh teaching English has had a lot of ups to downs. Learners

particularly from rural background are always surrounded by Bangla language. They are used to

hear, think and speak in Bangla. Though some English sentences are listened during class hours

by learners but they do not get any source of learning English apart from class hours. Banu (2009)

states that teachers view English as a set of content rather than an array of language skills. They

keep students busy in covering those contents rather than to look for language competence. They

are kept under pressure by education management system to complete a huge syllabus within a

very short time. For that reason competency takes second position while the aim of finishing

syllabus or textbooks is in the first position. She again emphasizes on learners’ understanding level

and communicative skill rather than correctness or accuracy. Teachers of primary level basically

from village areas, interrupt the young learners’ flow of English learning by injecting a sense of

being correct and grammatically accurate. This creates a sense of being alert always about making

mistakes which hinders the total language acquisition process in a healthy way. Another area where

teachers of primary schools lack focus is that teachers give no attention on learners’ comprehension

skill. No importance is given on learners’ reflection on any specific lesson, what they have learned

from that lesson and their creative ideas related to that lesson. It is a very common practice of

teachers or rural primary schools. According to Shukla (2008),

Comprehension strategies need to be more explicitly taught and individual interpretation

of texts need to be valued inside the classroom. Children need to be taught different

14
 reading strategies, for example, scanning, skimming, locating information throughout the

text etc. to solve different reading problems. All learning experiences do not

necessarily lead to learning, unless subsequent opportunities for reflection, application,

correlation and consolidation are created.

These sectors are not being paid adequate concentration at primary stage of language learning

which eventually results in learners’ low acquisition of language. Kabir (2015) reports in 1991,

government of Bangladesh declared free primary education for government primary school and in

late 90’s first CLT based curriculum was implemented but our English teachers did not receive

this new approach of teaching warmly. Biswas (2018) stated that Selim and Tasneem (2011) have

criticized these ELT teachers by saying “When CLT came to Bangladesh the traditional English

teachers vehemently opposed it because they were not ready for something new.” The teachers of

primary level hardly felt the significance of enhancing students’ spoken and listening skills. They

were quite successful in neglecting two other important skills by following Grammar Translation

Method. Although new curriculum has been introduced to uphold the quality of English language

education. Literature shows that classroom teaching does not always change according to

curricular modifications and alterations particularly in rural areas.

Report of NCTB (2006) explains, among the focal objectives of teaching English in primary level

education in Bangladesh enabling the young students read and comprehend the textbooks are some

of the majors. In accordance with the curriculum instruction they should also write words, simple

sentences, passages, paragraphs, informal letters and numbers correctly. To ensure this

competency NCTB revised the existing curriculum and arranged training for teachers to implement

the curriculum. Studies incorporating interviews and classroom observation reveal the difficulties

teachers face in implementing the new language policy. They are obliged to plan English classes

15
with the constraints of a large class of students and with mixed level of proficiency, short duration

of teaching hours and limited resources (Farooqui, 2014). Farooqui (2008) indicates that there is

1 teacher for 60 students in a rural primary classroom. Teachers have to maintain this large number

of students to teach effectively. In that situation teachers prefer to talk in Bangla rather English

though it is instructed to speak in English in a language class. Teachers from rural areas are also

observed reading from books in English and translate that in Bangla. Moreover they ask students

in Bangla to respond over those topics. Teachers have a tendency to start class with English

sometimes but switch to Bangla abruptly in most of the cases. Both teachers and learners find

comfort in this teaching process according to the reports of Hamid & Honan (2012) on present

status of English in today’s Bangladeshi primary schools. Their research precisely pointed out the

scenario that teachers’ explanation in Bangla was observed throughout the whole observation

period, explanation in English disappeared from the classes after 15 minutes of starting the

observation period.

This is the common picture of every primary schools of Bangladeshi rural areas although some

difference can be found in urban areas. But most of the people of Bangladesh dwell in rural parts

and thus the present status of English teaching in Bangladesh should be considered depending

more on the literacy level of rural people.

16
Chapter 3

Methodology

3.1 Introduction

This methodology chapter begins with the research questions. Then there is the description of

research design. After that it presents the setting, participants and instruments of the research

followed by the description of data collection procedures. Finally it discusses data analysis process.

At the end of the chapter there is the mention of ethical consideration which acts as safeguard to

ensure that the rights of participants are abided by every way the paper is presented.

Research Questions:

The following two research questions are the main questions that guide this study

1. What are the main barriers of teaching English at the rural primary schools in

Bangladesh?

2. What are the teachers’ views to overcome some of these obstacles?

3.2 Research Design

In words of Creswell (2008), “Research designs are plans and the procedures for research that span

the decisions from broad assumptions to detailed methods of data collection and analysis”. A

research design is organized with chronological actions such as, sequencing every section of the

study, displaying those sections in a representable manner and integrating all the points and

information logically. Specific method or design of a research involves the forms of data

collection, procedures, analysis of collected data, and own interpretation of the researcher. In one

17
sentence it can be summarized that the methodology section of a paper is the total guideline of a

research.

Since the aim of my paper is to identify the limitations, teachers of rural primary schools are

dealing with to teach English in Bangladesh, I chose to work by following various procedures of

qualitative method. With a view to conducting my study, I prepared two sets of open-ended

questionnaire consisting of 15 and 10 questions. After that I went for searching the schools for my

study away from the urban areas. I selected the primary schools of the villages situated in Barishal

division as my hometown is there. Then I talked to the Head teachers of 6 primary schools seeking

permission to conduct my work. I prepared an information sheet (Appendix C) and a consent form

(Appendix D) considering the ethical issues and presented them. Though I faced some difficulties

to get the permission, I was able to overcome. I could conduct my study in three primary schools.

In my study, I used both primary and secondary sources of data.

3.3 Setting

Seeking permission to enter a school for classroom observation and taking interviews from

teachers was not much easy task to accomplish. Among 6 primary schools, 3 schools allowed me

to continue my study in their schools. In order to take interviews I asked the teachers to come in a

classroom after their classes are finished. For classroom observation I chose days before exam

dates because all students tend to come to school before exam time. I managed to observe the

classes from the very back bench of the classrooms.

18
3.4 Participants

The schools I was allowed to work with have only 1 or hardly 2 specific teachers of English.

That is why I had to take interviews from teachers of other subjects who also used to teach

English occasionally. I interviewed 19 teachers in total among them 12 were female and 7 were

male. The average age of my participants is 38-40. For classroom observation I selected II, IV

and V grade classes. Each classroom has 45-60 students who participated in my observation. In

order to make the task enjoyable and comfortable I at first introduced myself to the learners. I

selected grade II because it was my intention to observe the classes of beginners to understand

their level of knowledge and understanding. Though learners felt shy and uneasy finding

someone strange among them, they assisted me to complete my work properly. Here I made a list

of my participants along with their age, qualification and training status.

Participant Pseudo name Gender Age Qualification Number of Received Training

1 Alam Male 41 BA 0
2 Khalid Male 38 BA 0
3 Monowara Female 35 SSC 0
4 Halima Female 40 SSC 0
5 Sahela Female 32 SSC 0
6 Asma Female 30 SSC 0
7 Barkat Male 39 B.Com 0
8 Zahid Male 33 B.Com 1
9 Zamila Female 42 SSC 0
10 Humayun Male 43 BA 0
11 Rahima Female 42 SSC 0
12 Khadiza Female 41 SSC 1
13 Nazma Female 32 SSC 0
14 Karim Male 29 B.Com 0
15 Sheuly Female 28 HSC 1
16 Azhar Male 36 B.Com 0
17 Aliya Female 44 SSC 2

19
 18 Sultana Female 39 SSC 0
19 Rakiba Female 29 HSC 0
Table: Participant List

3.5 Instruments

With a view to collecting data from participants I followed the procedures of qualitative method.

Basically Interviews and classroom observation were the focal instruments for my work. I also

conducted focus group discussion for getting an overall idea of teaching in rural primary schools

and to collect their views about how the lacking areas of teaching English can be filled up. I

prepared two sets of open-ended questionnaire, first one was composed of 15 open-ended

questions for face-to face interviews (Appendix A) with teachers and the second one was

composed of 10 open-ended questions (Appendix B) for all the teachers who participated in focus

group discussion. My cell phone worked as an important tool for collecting data as I audio recorded

teachers’ interviews in that.

3.6 Data Collection Procedure

The data was collected in three phases over a month following various qualitative methods. First

one is classroom observation, second one is interviews and the third one is focus group discussion.

I conducted classroom observation and interview recording simultaneously for three weeks.

Classroom observation helped me to observe a typical English language class of primary schools.

I could note learners’ activities along with teachers’ contribution in a classroom, collect

information about teaching processes, textbooks and materials used to teach. Face to face

interviews were conducted with 19 participants separately which assisted me to idealize the

genuine perceptions of village primary school teachers about teaching English. Replies from

20
English language teachers helped to collect data about present situation of English language

teaching strategies in rural areas. Through focus group discussion I pointed down explanation,

suggestion and perception about language teaching from teachers of English and other areas who

shared their valuable opinions for eradicating issues related to language teaching in the light of

their experiences.

Classroom Observation: My classroom observation for present study took place from

Sunday to Wednesday for 3 weeks. I observed 9 classes of 3 government primary schools. Each

class was over packed with students. During classroom observation I noted down attendance of

students, classroom infrastructure, teachers’ deliverance, teacher- learner comfort zone, learners’

response and participation, seat arrangement and time management. I sat at the back bench of the

room and observed the teacher’s as well as learners’ activities. I understood that students were

finding something strange and uneasy getting me among them but I tried to cope up with the

situation. Each class continued for 40-45 minutes.

Interviews: As the objective of my study is to identify the limitations that teachers of

primary schools are dealing to teach English in rural parts of Bangladesh, I decided to take face-

to-face interviews from 19 participants. They are directly or indirectly related to English language

teaching. Interviews are helpful to collect spoken data in a more naturalistic as well as spontaneous

way. In interviews a natural flow of the conversation is not interrupted because supplementary

questions related to main topic can be asked base on replies (Wilson and Sapsford, 2006).

It took about 3 weeks to interview 19 participants from three rural government primary schools. I

interviewed each teacher according to their convenient time, place and environment. Most of them

21
were comfortable inside school area. I recorded their interviews through the recorder of my cell

phone and noted down the key points in my note book. The questions of my interviews were much

focused on the teaching process and used materials which are usually applied for teaching English

in their classrooms. I used Bangla for teachers’ interviews. Each interview took an average of 15-

20 minutes.

Focus Group Discussion: Accomplishing a qualitative research in a smooth way

needs to conduct focus group discussion to collect qualitative data through open-ended question-

answer session. I took about 8 days to complete the whole discussion process. For my present

study 13 teachers of 3 schools took part in the discussion separately in their own school premises.

Each discussion consisted of 4-5 participants who answered 10 open-ended questions with no

option. Answering open-ended questions gave them opportunity to express their own opinions

easily. It took approximately 25-30 minutes to complete each discussion. For making the

discussion spontaneous and easily understandable I used Bangla as a medium of interaction.

3.7 Data Analysis

According to Creswell (2008),

Qualitative procedures demonstrate a different approach to scholarly inquiry. It employs

different philosophical assumptions, strategies of inquiry; and methods of data collection,

analysis and interpretation. Qualitative researchers typically gather multiple forms of

data, such as interviews, observations, and documents, rather than rely on a single data

source. They build their patterns, categories, and themes from the bottom up, by

organizing the data into increasingly more abstract units of information. This inductive

22
 process illustrates working back and forth between the themes and the database until the

researchers have established a comprehensive set of themes.

Since I conducted my study by following Creswell’s methods of qualitative research, the data

collection process and analysis is attempted to complete according to Creswell’s suggestion.

Following his guideline, my data collection was based on multiple instruments. I prepared

questionnaire, audio recorded interviews from teachers, conducted focus group discussion in a

natural environment. After that I analyzed the replies according to my own understanding and

interpreted that in my own style. I observed the classes and examined the learners and teachers

practically in English language classrooms. I noticed teachers and learners continue their language

class with a variety of limitations. Analysis of collected data was done inductively. I built my own

pattern of working, conducted my activities accordingly and organized my findings based on

different themes which I described in the following chapter.

3.8 Ethical Consideration

Consent from the selected participants was attained before presenting their information in the study

due to ethical considerations. In that case, an information sheet (Appendix C) along with a consent

form (Appendix D) explicated in simple language. The aim and procedures of the study were sent

to the headmasters of the selected schools at first and then were presented to all participants.

Teachers took part in the study only when they were interested. It was ensured that their identity

and given information will remain anonymous. All participants had the authority to decline or quit

anytime from taking part in the project. These two forms guaranteed that my study was conducted

by considering all the ethical issues.

23
Chapter 4

Findings

4.1 Introduction

I conducted my work in rural parts of Bangladesh in primary schools following different methods

of qualitative approach. My findings are organized in several themes from collected data. Here, I

used pseudo name of the participants for ethical issues. Participants’ statements are presented in

two ways, with quotation mark and in indented text without quotation mark. Some opinions of the

participants are also presented in my own words. In the first portion of this chapter I mention the

themes and in the last portion there is the analysis of the themes.

4.3 Limitations of Teachers

Teachers’ qualification: Primary school is the first educational institute where

children start their study life. That is why the instructors of primary level play significant roles in

children’s early education life. They build the foundation of learning which needs to be built with

strong pillars. To construct a well-built structure the building workers need to be efficient as well

as patient enough. Like that teachers of primary level need to be well educated, patient and efficient

so that they can build strong foundation of their learners’ education life. Conducting my study in

three primary schools of three villages, I came to know that most of the teachers are not educated

enough to teach a language like English. According to my study, almost all female teachers have

passed only SSC and started their job life as primary school teachers. It is found that, among 19

participants, there are 12 female teachers who have only SSC qualification except two teachers

who passed HSC and 7 male teachers who are graduate. With a view to teaching a specific subject,

24
at first a teacher must need to be well educated and proficient enough at that subject. But in

Bangladesh, the scenario is quite different.

Lack of proper training: A teacher is the most crucial in student achievement. At

primary level only teachers are responsible for the education of learners. That is why student’s

success relies on well-trained teachers. But my study at primary schools displays a different view.

Teachers of primary schools situated in rural parts of Bangladesh have rarely received any training

over teaching according to my interviews. One of my participants, Khalid says,

I received only one training in 18 years of teaching life. That was a training on improving

teaching skills. But I cannot remember what was trained there. I did not apply anything

what I taught there.

My participant named Sahela shares, she did not receive any training in her 8 years of teaching

experience. Including Sahela more five female participants express that they did not receive any

professional training since their joining. Opportunities of teachers’ training are not enough in

village areas of Bangladesh, utters Rakiba. Some female teachers are also sometimes unable to

attain training after taking care of their family and household chores. In some cases their family

members are also not supportive enough. Asma expresses,

I am an English teacher of primary school of this village but I did not receive any

professional training on teaching English. Though I was offered once but my family

members did not support me to stay away from home and receive training.

After an interview session with Barkat, I came to know that he received one training on students’

mind and brain development but that was not effective because he could not apply it in his

classroom for the lack of enough facilities. Among 19 participants only 3 teachers have received

25
one or hardly two training over teaching. However, those trainings are not related to any specific

subject. Khalid utters that he was offered to receive one professional training but he refused to join

it because in his absence there were not any English teachers in the school to take his classes.

Lack of teaching philosophy: Teaching philosophy is a reflection of a teacher’s

personal belief, thought and values about teaching. It is basically a self-reflective statement which

states teacher’s belief over teaching. It helps to fix a definite goal of teachers’ teaching act. It

assists a teacher to find the way of reaching that goal. A fixed goal is always helpful for a runner

to win the race. In that way when a teacher has a definite philosophy of his or her own he or she

can take necessary steps to reach there without much difficulties. A teacher of English language

having a good teaching philosophy is more likely to teach better than those who lack this. Teaching

philosophy of an English language teacher basically includes his or her own art of teaching, own

process of making students feel comfortable in learning, own style of making the classroom

interactive and spontaneous as well. But my interviews with primary school teachers gave me an

idea that almost all the teachers do not foster any specific teaching philosophy. In lining with the

data from primary teachers, among 19 participants only one teacher has a teaching philosophy of

his own. Asking about philosophy of teaching one participant Barkat exclaims, “The idea of

maintaining a philosophy of teaching is not clear to me.” From his statement the overall condition

of village primary teachers can be assumed. About 14-15 teachers have not any clear idea about

philosophy of teaching. Though 2-3 teachers have some ideas of maintaining a teaching

philosophy but they do not maintain it.

No preparation for class: Taking proper preparation to teach a lesson is one of the

main steps of making a class effective. When it is the case of English class then the preparation

becomes mandatory for a teacher. Because rural primary learners are afraid of attending English

26
class. They find it difficult to understand the language and act accordingly. For an effective

language class, preparation before class includes thinking about the level of learners, needs and

demands of learners, fixing the lessons accordingly, preparing of what supportive antidote can be

shared to make lesson easier, selecting what teaching aid is helpful for class etc. About 85%

participants mention that generally they take classes without any preparation. Karim says that he

does not feel necessity to take preparation before a class. He prefers to teach students randomly.

Another participant, Monowara expresses that she does not get enough time for taking preparation

for her classes. But she agrees that preparation is necessary for teaching properly. Humayun

explains,

Preparation makes a class easy and successful but in a single day I take about six classes

at a stretch and after school I teach English at my home then I feel too tired to take

preparation for next class.

In most of the cases, English teachers are not in sufficient number in the primary schools. That is

why class load remains always heavier for each teacher. When a teacher is overloaded with more

classes to take, they cannot manage to occupy their time for taking preparation for next class,

shares Rahima.

Absence of teaching speaking in class: According to CLT, teachers and students

are supposed to interact with each other with the use of target language. But according to collected

data from interviews and classroom observation, about 90% teachers in rural primary schools are

not agree to speak in English in classrooms. One of the participants, named Zahid says that rural

students need not to be taught speaking in English in class as they always prefer to talk in Bangla.

27
In a monolingual environment of Bangladesh, especially rural areas children are habituated to

speak in Bangla always. Their parents, elders, relatives always speak in Bangla for what students

are also comfortable to communicate in Bangla. They cannot think of to speak in English even in

their English classrooms. Fatima, another participant comments that speaking is not that much

necessary as writing and reading is. Students need to read and write at first. Reading and writing

is most important to get passed in exam. But teaching speaking is not that much important.

Teachers’ inability to speak in English: Almost all the participants admit the fact

that they cannot speak in English during their class period thoroughly. Alam states in his interview

that he cannot speak in English as he is not used to speak it regularly. Another participant, Sultana

expressed,

I cannot speak in English as I am not used to. I understand that speaking English is

helpful for fruitful language teaching but speaking in English thoroughly is not possible

for teachers like us.

She adds that, teachers and students both are not much comfortable in speaking English in the

class. Fatima admitted the issue by telling, “It is not possible to take a whole class with the only

use of English, we are not enough trained to do so.”

Absence of teaching listening in class: Based on the answers of teachers in

interviews, the fact comes to light that almost 98% teachers are ignoring teaching listening skills

to the primary pupils. They are also unaware of the processes through which learners can be

proficient in listening skill. Generally their classes are focused on passing exams and promoting

to next class. Following Grammar Translation Method (GTM), teachers teach the students

28
structured based grammatical rules. Learners read and memorize the rules at home. At the time of

exam they write those and get passed. Khadiza, one participant expressed,

I maintain a lot of students in my class. During class time it is easy for me to ask them

something to read and write on paper. Listening activities need paying concentration on

each and every learners’ performance which I prefer to avoid.

4.4 Issues in Class Management

Short span of class period: Participants’ replies on duration of class time reveal that

learners are getting only 35-40 minutes class duration for their English language class. To carry

on an effective language class minimum 1 hour duration is a must need says one of the participants

Karim. Only 40 minutes class time does not suffice for doing classwork, checking them out,

listening students’ problems, finding out solution etc. Thus his class often remains unfinished and

students get demotivated. In rural areas often learners are shy and reluctant to speak up their

learning issues to their instructor says Sahela. She further added,

A short duration of class is not supportive to be friendly with students. We, the instructors

need to maintain a good communication with pupils so that they feel free to discuss their issues

with us. Discussion helps to understand the learning status of students, their learning progress and

their lacking as well. But for discussion we lack time in class period.

Other participant Zahid speaks up in his interview that if a teacher wants to carry on a

Communicative activity in class period, a 35-40 minutes class duration creates barrier there.

29
 Over populous classroom: An over populous classroom refers to a classroom with

more students than its accommodation capability. All participants are strongly agree on the point

that they have over populated classroom. One of the participants, Monowara states,

I have a classroom of 60 students. It becomes very difficult for me to take care of each

student in the class. Besides, classroom size is not so big to accommodate all 60 students which

creates gathering inside class. When I ask students to do any class work, in a single class I cannot

even check copies of all students and give them observation accordingly.

Rahima, tells her view that, she has to take language classes of grade 1-5. In each class she teaches

not less than 50 students. She explains, the classroom size is very small and in each bench five

students have to sit. Students start to talk among themselves. As a result, classroom becomes

unmanageable for a teacher. Teachers’ voice does not reach every corner of the classroom because

of this noisy environment. Thus an over populous classroom causes disturbance to make a

language class effective.

4.5 Limitations of School Infrastructure

Insufficiency of basic teaching aids: Rural primary schools lack teaching aids they

should have for effective English language class most of the time, shared by Khalid. School

authority is most of the time unable to support students with essential teaching aids. A teacher of

English language needs some basic teaching aids such as, enough number of bench, sufficient

number of chalk, individual copies for each subject etc. Moreover, rural schools lack the basic

needs of a classroom. For example, enough electric lights, fans, sufficient number of clean wash

rooms for teachers and students etc. Sheuly states,

30
 When I take class students sit on the floor for the lack of enough benches. They suffer

from excessive hit during summer because there is not enough number of fans in the

room.

Halima says that in order to making a language class enjoyable and successful, colorful pictures,

flashcards, colorful supplementary teaching aids related to specific lessons are useful. Besides,

audio player for listening activities, microphones for large class are helpful for fruitful language

teaching. But authority of primary schools situated in remote areas of Bangladesh is unable to

supply the students and teachers with these basic necessities.

Lack of library: Rakiba shares in her face to face interview session,

A school library is the center of knowledge. Library supports the teachers with new ideas,

modern thoughts and more knowledge. Students can also sit at library and read the books

they want to. From a library, we can also take help when we need. But there is not any

arrangement of a school library in the school premises.

One of the participants, Khadiza explains that they have asked their school authority to set a library

up in school area but for budget crisis, lack of government initiatives for building library in primary

schools, negligence of school concerns are responsible for absence of libraries in the rural primary

schools.

4.6 Limitations in Implementing Curriculum

New English curriculum: Primary English Language Teaching curriculum in

Bangladesh is now based on Communicative approach. Communicative Language Teaching is

31
focused on building an ability to use English for the purpose of communication. NCTB (National

Curriculum Textbook Board) has set some curriculum statement for the primary level students as

per the requirement of CLT. The statement includes,

1. Learners should understand simple commands, instructions, and requests and carry them

out.

2. They should use English to fulfil their regular communicative functions. They must be able

to read, write and understand simple sentences in English according to their age and kevel.

3. Primary learners should be able to describe about a person, objects, places and events in

English. They should also be able to express their needs and feelings in English.

NCTB is responsible to develop appropriate English textbooks for implementing these steps of

new curriculum. To teach those books it is required to train the teachers and facilitate the primary

schools as well. However, in rural areas number of trained primary teachers are almost in negative

margin. The basic facilities need for teaching through communicative approach, such as, big

classroom, small number of students, long class duration, and appropriate school management

system are almost absent in the schools. As a result, teachers are getting demotivated in teaching

English and they are standing on the opposite position of implementing new English curriculum.

About 17 teachers express that new English Curriculum is not always supportive for the students

of rural areas. Asma shares her view, “students feel comfortable and are used to memorizing and

writing in exam, they are reluctant to think using their intellect.”

Besides, CLT advocates a classroom to be student centered rather than teacher centered. But the

scenario of village primary schools is totally opposite.

32
 Absence of Communicative Language Teaching: Communicative Language

Teaching was first applied in 1970’s after dissatisfying implementation of Audio Lingual Method.

Audio Lingual Method advocates for repeated drills which is only receptive. Communicative

Language Teaching encourages to communicate through target language which integrates

listening, writing and speaking simultaneously. CLT is not only a method but also a guideline to

communicate with people practically. It is an approach that needs to be taught the pupils with rich

and authentic input. That is why CLT demands to be taught by well-trained teachers. However, in

the primary schools there is lack of proper trained English language teacher who have clear idea

of Communicative approach. Again it is also a matter of Bangladeshi culture. Bangladeshi culture

discourages students to interact with teachers frequently. Aliya opines that she cannot catch the

way of teaching in Communicative approach properly. That is why, she cannot practice it in

classroom. Zahid prefers to talk in class and make his students listen. He thinks, if students are

given chance to speak, they become indiscipline and classroom becomes chaotic. Humayun

another participant states that CLT needs some activities to be practiced but a small classroom

does not support to practice those activities in class in the way it should be done. He adds that the

necessary educational equipment which are essential for CLT based class are not available in

school. That is why Communicative Language Teaching is absent in rural primary schools.

4.7 Limitations of Parents and Students of Rural areas

Ignorance of parents: Primary level students of rural areas are generally from rural

background. Because of poverty and unawareness most of the village people are not educated. As

a result, they are not acquainted with the usefulness of getting educated. They keep their children

busy in doing household chores. From teachers’ interviews it was revealed that parents remain

33
indifferent to the study of their children in most of the time. Nazma says, “My students pay no

more attention in class when they are asked to work with their father in field.” Halima states that

parents are even unknown about whether their children are coming to school or going to any other

place. She adds that in village areas, it is silly to expect from them to know the importance of

learning English in this advanced and modern world. Teachers said, students do not get any support

from their parents if they face any difficulty while studying English at home. One participant,

Zamila tells if her students are unable to complete any home task they escape from school and

sometimes even they tend to be absent in English exams. But parents are rarely bothered about

their children’s attendance in classes or exams.

Students’ hesitation and shyness: According to interviews from instructors of

primary schools, about 98% students feel shy to express their problems and progress in learning.

These young learners have fear of making mistakes in the class. They have also a fear of sounding

odd in classroom sometimes. This kind of fear about English creates a feeling of shyness, says

Alam. As per Monowara’s description, students even avoid to ask any question in their class about

English lessons. They also used to avoid to share that they have understood a lesson successfully.

Monowara also states that students’ hesitation and shyness create a distance between teacher and

student.

4.8 Analysis of Findings

Analysis of qualitative questionnaire: Among 19 respondents, 10 female teachers

are teaching students with only SSC qualification. This qualification of a primary teacher is not

certainly at satisfactory level. A teacher with SSC qualification has not that much maturity and

34
understanding capability with what she can manage a class of mix proficiency and understand the

demand of her each student. Besides, it is important for a teacher to analyze each student’s attitude

toward learning, need, level of understanding for making a class effective. Though the male

teachers are graduate, they are not efficient enough to teach English effectively. Because their

degree is not completed with a major in English. A teacher of a specific subject like English need

to be qualified and skillful enough so that he can manage to create eagerness in students’ mind for

learning a new language. It is his or her duty to make the learning process easy and faster and also

successful by adopting effective teaching processes. But lack of enough proficiency in English

hinder to provide learners with the facilities mentioned above. Thus, students of primary level are

not getting efficient teachers to be taught. The primary level students are the future directors of a

nation and they are in badly need of proper care and motivation from early stage. But inadequacy

of teachers’ qualification is responsible for making learners reluctant to learn English.

According to the data collected from 19 respondents, only 2-3 teachers have received training over

teaching. But those training were not related to specific subjects. Moreover, training opportunities

are also much less in rural parts of Bangladesh. On the basis of the responds to my question about

receiving training, it comes out that training opportunities are offered to the teachers but they

cannot join it sometimes. They shared the reasons why they cannot join the training offered to

them. Training programs often take place away from the school areas. Teachers need to stay away

from home to receive that which is not always supported by teachers’ family members. Thus,

teachers lack the qualities of a well-trained teacher for different reasons. However, it is very

important to ensure proper training for every primary teachers on specific subject.

Almost all the participants shared their opinions on teaching philosophy that they have not any

specific philosophy of teaching. For this reason, they teach students in a scattered way. When it is

35
about teaching a new language, students often become confused and feel uncomfortable to use that

for communication purpose. This confusion is responsible for feeling uneasy, hesitation in English

learning process. Teaching philosophy is like a moral to a teacher. The more organized and

practical philosophy a teacher maintains the more easy teaching processes keep opening doors.

But teachers of rural primary schools are not that much qualified or well-trained to fix a good

philosophy of teaching. Good qualification, training and matured age are supportive for

understanding learners’ type which is helpful for developing a well-built philosophy. But it is

almost absent in those schools.

In most of the primary schools of rural areas, English teachers are not in sufficient number. For

that reason, class load is heavier for each teacher. About 95% respondents are in this condition

and they shared their opinion that when a teacher is overloaded with more classes to take they

cannot manage to occupy their time for preparing themselves for next class. Primary teachers are

also unaware of the advantages of taking preparation before any class.

As primary school teachers are not that much qualified and trained, they themselves admit that

they cannot take a language class using English thoroughly. Eventually, learners of rural primary

schools are continuing to learn their English lessons with the use of Bangla.

Learners of rural areas are not used to listen English from their surrounding areas. If teachers speak

and interact with them in English they will eventually learn by interacting. Attempt of interacting

will teach them to interact using English. But, lack of practice leads them to be less competent in

English. Teachers are observed to focus on only reading and writing. No speaking and listening

activities are encouraged at all in these schools.

36
A language class duration must be enough for conducting all general routine tasks of a class.

Teachers have urged for 1 hour class duration instead of 40 minutes. They demanded it to complete

all class tasks properly. A long duration of class period is also friendly for making a good

communication between teacher and learner. It is helpful to know the students’ lacking areas and

progressive areas as well.

Conduction of a successful class needs to ensure learners’ comfort at first. An over populous class

creates problems for teachers to convey all information correctly to the learners. Young primary

students hide their learning issues mostly as they are afraid of talking to teacher directly among a

lot of classmates. In case of a language class, learners need to be communicated with instructors

frequently. However, it becomes impossible for a teacher to ask and make good communication

with each and every student in a classroom of 55 to 60 students. In that way rural level primary

learners often remain untouched and unaccountable to their teachers. Because of excess number

of learners, students at the back suffer from confusion, they cannot concentrate on study also.

In accordance with collected data, village primary schools are unable to provide learners with basic

teaching needs. There necessity of supportive aids gets very less priority. Lack of proper support

is a big limitation for which language class becomes ineffective.

The students of primary level usually have many curiosity about everything. It is a library which

can help them to explore where they want to explore and what they want to know. Library plays a

significant role in learners’ language learning and achievement. It has different encyclopedia, story

books written in easy English, dictionary. English appears as a completely strange language before

the young primary students. They have to learn that language as a subject at school. In that case,

they lack the basic knowledge what they already know about Bangla. That is why they need extra

care and support to acquire it properly. Library is such a support from where both teachers and

37
students can be provided with immense facilities. Primary schools of Bangladesh often lack this

facility in the school premises. But the teachers have highly recommended to set up library in

school campus.

According to the Curriculum developed by NCTB, students are encouraged to understand the

lesson, work with it using intellect and write with creative thought. But rural students are unable

to think in English and write in English using their creative thought, said the instructors.

Analysis of classroom observation: Classroom observation helped me to

understand the actual scenario of a rural primary level classroom. I observed, teachers lack the

proper grammatical knowledge of English. They only focus on structure but students find it hard

to follow their instructor. Students are asked by their teacher to memorize the grammatical rules.

Lack of enough qualification is also responsible for teachers’ wrong pronunciation of English

words. Classroom observation also reveals the absence of subject based trained teachers. For this

lacking, teachers are noticed to be unable to implement any easy strategy in language teaching

activity. Teachers’ behavior towards learners was also not positive as per my observation. I noticed

that only teachers speak in classroom and students listen. Here talking less in classroom is

considered to obey the teachers and in that way a language class becomes a teacher centric

classroom. As a result, students’ status of understanding, their schemata level, their command over

any lesson, their demand over any chapter remain untold to teachers which is certainly unhealthy

for a good language class.

As CLT is about communication both the speaker and listener change their role frequently. But in

primary schools of village parts teachers themselves are unable to communicate their students

38
through English. In that situation expecting from the students to speak in English is absurd to some

extent.

Classroom observation also helped to visualize the classroom infrastructure of a rural primary

school. Schools lack enough number of tables, benches, chalk, electric lights and fans also.

Students suffer from various difficulties in sitting arrangement. The blackboard is very old and

there is not availability of dusters and chalk in some classes. These lacking areas contribute to

learners’ low acquisition of English language as per my perception.

My study in the rural primary schools not only reveals the limitations for what the teaching-

learning process of English language is being hindered but also pulls some ways out to solve some

of the issues. For that I arranged for focus group discussions in the schools separately. Analysis of

the discussions is mentioned below.

Analysis of focus group discussion with teachers: I conducted three focus group

discussions separately in three primary schools. Each discussion consisted of 4-5 members. There

not only English teachers took part but also teachers from other areas shared their comments and

views about some ways of overcoming the limitations of village primary school management

system. I prepared an open-ended questionnaire composed of 10 questions for the discussions. As

teachers themselves face the difficulties and the limitations of teaching English, I thought they

have certainly some ideas to overcome those limitations. These discussions helped to express their

wants and expectations from concern authority to make language educating process successful.

Now I am describing the overall ideas of each discussion in a compact manner in this section.

39
Based on the latest United Nations estimation the current population of Bangladesh is 167,562,152

with a total land area of 130, 170 km2. Bangladesh is a densely populated country where about

62% people live in rural areas. To educate Bangladesh it needs to ensure the education of rural

people with more priority. About educational qualification of a primary level English teacher,

Zahid shares his thought that the educational qualification of a primary level English teacher

should be minimum Bachelor of Arts with a major in English. A graduate teacher is enough

matured as per age or education to understand students’ pulse. He further adds that a teacher with

BA qualification has the knowledge or command over a subject he or she is supposed to teach.

The definition of a qualified teacher not only includes an educated teacher but also proper trained,

added Fatima. She says, a primary school teacher must need to be trained well on the subject he

or she is supposed to teach. Almost all participants have same opinion that English is a foreign

language for Bangladeshi students. Bangladeshi curriculum has mandated to study English from

the very beginning of learners’ education life. That is why instructors of this subject at this level

should be selected with more sincerity. Aliya mentions, teachers of primary level in Bangladesh

particularly who teach in rural areas require special training on teaching English. Rural area’s

primary school teachers need to be more patient, energetic, and motivated to teach the students.

Khadiza and Alam shared their view that proper training can clearly explain and make teachers

understand the new English curriculum. It can guide them to implement Communicative Language

Teaching in classroom. As training is about budget and arrangement, a group of trainers can go to

the schools and arrange their training session in the classrooms after the school time suggested by

one of the participants, Zamila. She again said that in this way teachers can also join every training

from their home. This initiative can also reduce the budget of training arrangement. Concern

authority may take essential steps to commence on this initiative.

40
 As teachers of primary level of rural parts are unaware of the advantage of fostering any

philosophy of teaching they need to be well-understood the benefits of maintaining it. In that case,

trainers can arrange a session in training period to explain the importance of maintaining a teaching

philosophy, utters Rakiba. Along with a teaching philosophy, a language teacher should also have

a preplan for teaching students before a class according to Rahima. Collected data is an evidence

to prove that a preplan before teaching is almost in negative dimension in rural primary schools of

Bangladesh. But Rahima understands that a preplan can make a language class comfortable and

enjoyable. With a view to making a language lesson effective, easy and enjoyable school authority

should take attempt for arranging necessary teaching aids, stated Monowara. For example, enough

number of benches, tables, electric fans, lights, chalk and blackboard etc. Lack of any of these

supports make a class unsuccessful and disturbing also. Khadiza realizes the fact that a successful

language class does not only need basic necessary facilities but also supplementary appliance.

Such as, flashcards, attractive lesson related pictures, colorful textbooks so that young students of

primary stage enjoy their learning act. Karim explains, when students are under pressure to read,

memorize and pass the exam they will learn and forget after exam. But they will never forget it if

they learn it by heart through enjoy.

For a densely populated country like Bangladesh, class size is a big issue to conduct a language

class successfully. All respondents harmonized in this regard saying that they all have a small

classroom with a large number of students. But this problem can be solved in a way shares another

participant Sultana. She tells that if class size is small to accommodate all students, the teachers

can use the front field. School authority can build a shade under which learners can sit in rows.

Teachers can take care of every students there. Teachers’ voice can also reach to every learner as

they can make a walk to the last student. She shares her opinion in removing learners’ shyness and

41
hesitation in English language class. She says that if teachers are conscious about putting less red

mark on students’ working copies and less interrupt their learning flow by not counting their

grammatical mistakes then learning can take place faster. For that practice, teachers need to be

more liberal and patient to wait for the better outcome. Parents can also play a vital role to ensure

their children’s better English language learning. They can stay alert about their children’s

activities and encourage them to study English with more concentration. Azhar and Sahela opined,

primary school teachers can go to each students’ house and make parents aware about the

importance of English language in this modern era to execute this idea.

About library facility Fatima, Khalid and Alam shared their opinions to make each primary school

rich and learning friendly by setting up a small library. School authority can arrange a library fund

where both teachers and students can contribute according to their ability. In that way a small

library can be set up to help teachers and learners in different purposes

42
Chapter 5

Conclusion

I think the main focal points of education is far more than only reading or writing rather it is a rich

investment for the residents of a country through which intellectual capability can be lifted up.

This capability is helpful to eradicate poverty and inequality from the society. If this education is

obtained from everyday situations, communications and experiences then its impact will last

certainly longer than getting educated by gaining bookish knowledge. This thought along with the

global needs of learning English inspired government of Bangladesh to implement Communicative

approach in classrooms since 1977. But still its implementation is far away particularly in rural

parts. In Bangladeshi education system expectation remained always high ignoring the

implementation crises which consequences low competency of the learners. To emancipate the

learners from this consequence preparation must be taken from the very beginning level of

education system. That is why, ensuring primary learners’ language acquisition should get more

priority from government.

In this study, I attempted to project the present status of teaching English in primary schools of

rural parts of Bangladesh. Classroom observation and interviews provided me with useful data to

represent the present status of English language teaching process in rural primary level classrooms.

My investigation helped me to find some suggestion that are useful to improve the present status

of teaching English at rural primary level. I am recommending those at the last portion of the

concluding chapter.

43
Recommendations

 Government requirement for recruiting primary teachers should be minimum BA with a

major in the specific subject and number of teachers in rural primary schools should be

increased.

 Primary teachers should enjoy basic facilities from government. For example, living in

houses provided by government with a free of cost, ration facility for a small amount of

money. These two initiatives will attract highly qualified candidates to apply for primary

schools. Teachers who are already teaching they will be motivated to discontinue the

coaching system also.

 Distribution of essential books among primary teachers can be ensured. Those books will

be distributed related to specific subject with a free of cost. This practice can be continued

in every 15 or 30 days. Reading books will broaden teachers’ domain of knowledge.

 Arrangement of massive training program for primary teachers on specific subjects of all

parts of Bangladesh should be introduced. Government should provide the schools and

teachers with every facilities they require to implement in classroom what they have learnt

in the training.

 Sessions of training programs and initiatives of teaching curriculum should consider the

practical demands of Bangladeshi context.

 In case of large number of students, one class can be divided into two with not more than

30-35 students. Double shifting classes can be introduced in rural areas what is also helpful

44
 for more teacher employment. In case of increasing the duration of class period, number of

classes can be reduced in each day.

Hopefully these recommendations will work for eradicating the existing problems of English

language teaching act in rural primary schools and help to keep erecting primary level language

learners’ competency level.

45
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49
Appendix- A

Interview Questions for the Teachers

1. What qualification do you have?

2. Did you receive any professional training related to your subject?

3. How long have you been teaching English?

4. What is your teaching philosophy?

5. Do you take any preparation for teaching in class?

6. Is the duration of your class sufficient for you?

7. What is your view about a class with a large number of students?

8. Do you feel the necessity of a school library?

9. What do you know about CLT? What is your opinion about it?

10. Do you practice any Communicative activities in classroom?

11. How do find new English Curriculum? Is it effective for fruitful teaching?

12. Do you speak in English at classroom?

13. What is your view about listening and speaking skills?

14. What is your opinion about learners’ hesitation and shyness in English classroom?

15. What do you think about parents’ contribution in learners’ language learning process?

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Appendix- B

Questions for Focus Group Discussion

1. What do you think about the government requirement for recruiting primary school

teachers?

2. Is it important to train teachers based on specific subject?

3. What can be done for a large number of students in a small class?

4. What are the steps can you take to set up a school library in school area?

5. How will the long duration of a language class help in fruitful teaching?

6. What initiatives can be taken to teach English through Communicative approach?

7. What are the facilities do you need to practice speaking and listening skills?

8. Do you think to include listening and speaking test in final exams?

9. What can you do to increase the awareness of rural students’ parents about the importance

of English?

10. What is your suggestion to eradicate the hesitation and shyness of learners in a language

classroom?

51
Appendix- C

Information Sheet for Participating Schools

Who is conducting the research?

I am Morsheda Sharmin, cordially inviting your school to participate in my thesis procedures

titled, “Teaching English in Rural Areas: A Case Study of Three Primary Schools in

Bangladesh.” At present I am a student of MA in ELT and Applied Linguistics at BRAC

UNIVERSITY.

The aim of my study is to focus on the areas primary school teachers have limitations to teach

English in rural areas of Bangladesh. I hope, to reach the goal of my study your school will

cooperate me by participating with no hesitation. This information sheet will answer every

question you have regarding this project.

Why am I being invited to take part?

Your contribution will significantly assist to achieve the aim of my study. Your important

feedback to my inquiry is essential to display the present status of English teaching at primary

schools of village areas. Your participation will provide me with precious data to find out the

obstacles of English teaching and sort out the solutions as well.

What will happen if I take part?

Two phases of question – answer sessions will be arranged. First phase is for face-to-face

interviews in which each participant will be asked open-ended questions where they can give the

actual opinion what they know and feel about that issue. Second phase of question- answer

52
session will be held as focus group discussion where teachers’ opinions will be asked about

finding out some ways of overcoming the difficulties of English language teaching in

Bangladeshi primary schools.

Will anyone know about my involvement?

Identification of each participant will be kept strictly confidential.

Is there any problem if I take part?

My works involve no potential risk but in case of feeling any kind of insecurity, participant can

quit at any time from taking part in the project.

Do I have to take part?

It is completely up to you to take part in the procedures. No obligation is there for you but I

believe you will help me through participating spontaneously.

Thank you for making time to read this information sheet.

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Appendix- D

Consent to take part in thesis

1. I …………… voluntarily agree to take part in this project.

2. I have come to know that if I am agree now I can withdraw my decision at any time

without any type of consequence.

3. I have had the nature and purpose of the study and ask any question about it.

4. I understand that there is not any benefit for me if I take part.

5. I agree my interview to be audio-recorded.

6. I know that my provided data will be confidential.

7. I understand that in any results of the study my identity will be kept anonymous. It will

be presented under any pseudo name. My information can be quoted under that disguised

name.

8. I understand that if I want to withdraw any of my provided information, I can do it

anytime.

9. I understand that my interview recordings and classroom observation video can be

retained for certain period of time.

10. I understand that under freedom of information legalization I am enabled to access the

information I have provided at any time while it is preserved as mentioned above.

54