A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire :
The English Language Education (ELE)system in Bangladesh has been created based on the National Education Policy (NEP 2010)implemented by the authorities including the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (DSHE) and the University Grant Commission(UGC).It as a systemwhich covers a compulsory education of General English with an emphasis on the communicative English up to the pre-tertiary phase of education as well as the optional education of academic subjects in English medium at all phases of education. It, as a system, is not based on any kind of language policy rather than on some arguments, the instances of which can be found in the writings of advocates of ELE in Bangladesh. Imam (2005) and Hamid (2010) are such advocates who actually echo the suggestion of English language educationists who have been working to vernacularize English in the plurilingual countries, e.g. India, Kenya and Nigeria.They provide the following arguments: i) Englishis a colonial inheritance,ii) English is an international language, iii) English is a means for the access to global knowledge, and iv)English is a means for the access to global job market in favour of the compulsory provision for the ELE.
On the basis of above arguments, the ELE policy makers of Bangladesh made English language a compulsory subject in the education system of Bangladesh with the two basic principles: i) English for alland ii) Earlier is better.
The ELE system follows a principle of giving an extraordinary burden of ELE at the earlier phases of education and exemption from the requisite level of ELEto undertake study inthe higher phases of education. It also gives an exemption from the linguistic competency to be necessitated by the teachers at the entry toteaching jobs in each phase of education. In fact the prevalent ELE practices have brought forth a number of adverse consequences which are causing to damage the country’slanguage and culture as in the following descriptions.
1) Loss of Various Domains of Bangla Language: The prevalent ELE system has created a situation of language contact conducive to theborrowing and calquing of linguistic elements from English into Bangla. Many of the borrowingsfrom English are causing to replace the words and expressions, e.g. congratulations of Bangla. Because of the unusual borrowing and calquing, languages of academic domains in Bangla have been falling into disuse, the process which has been causing to disuse of the domain specific languages in Bangla. This process of disuse of domain specific languages has continued toyield deficiency in Bangla, which, in effect, has been causing to lose the capacity of Bangla in containing the growing disciplines of knowledge.
2) Change in the Linguistic Landscape of the Country: The consequences of the ELE system have manifested itself in the linguistic landscapes of Bangladesh. Accordingly change in the visual landscape can be noticedon the signboards/billboards in the cities and labels of commodities all over the country. There are some centers in every city, where hardly a Bangla billboard can be seen. The English medium institutions and organizations also present a visual landscape of languagesthat they can hardly be recognized asit to bea part of Bangladesh. The change in the acoustic linguistic landscape can also be noticed in the localities. The code-mixing of Bangla and English as well as the code switching from Bangla to English have been common phenomenon in the premises of different social and educational institutions, and corporate offices. They can be noticed in the speech and music broadcasted through the TV and radio. Hence the ELE has continued to shape the national culture and create English subculture in the major cities, and causing to loss the empathy to the indigenous culture.
3) Shifting of Bangla Medium Institutions into English Medium Corporate Organizations: The consequences of prevalent ELE has manifested in such a way that the government and private institutions, and the corporate organizations have continued to turn into English medium organizations for which the main cities of Bangladesh have appeared to be the cities of the English speaking countries.
4) Reproduction of English subculture: The ELE has been shaping the thinking process of the English educated who have been contributing to the creation of English subculture within the Bangalee culture,which is different fromits parent Bangalee culture, by importing culture of the Anglophone countries. The reproduction of this homegrown English subculture has been steadilyoccurring with the participation of English educated people coming out from the English medium schools and universities. Hence it has now been evident that the ELE practices have appeared as means to reproduce the extraneous English subculture with the own resources.
5) Submission to the Englishlinguistic empire: The ELE carried over from the British colonial education system has been contributing in withstanding a condition for the submission of Bangladesh to the English linguistic empire. Though English was once merely a language of the UK, ithas now been the language of dominant countries, e.g. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and the USA, which are actually the colonies of invading Europeans occupied in the last centuries (cf.Phillipson, 2009). This is how the Anglophone countries have achieved pre-eminence over other major powers of the world since the era of colonial expansion.
6) Creation of Social disparity: The ELE has been the symbol of power, prestige and economic affluence (Imam, 2005). It has been means of social mobility in that it serves as means for jumping to the higher socio-economic strata from the lower socio-economic strata. It has brought disadvantage for the poor social class, because of their socio-economic disposition.Therefore the ELE policy has been contributing in shaping the society which can be characterized with economic disparity (cf. Hamid, 2010).
Thus Bangladesh, consequently, has got a faulty ELE systemwhich has continued to yield undesirable consequences in the society and culture of Bangladeshthat call for a reformation of the prevalentELE system in Bangladesh. Therefore a new ELEsystem is required to be formulated based on a rigorous language planning grounded on thelanguage policy underpinned with a consolidated linguistic ideology.
(A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire, Ph.D., Professor, Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka, E-mail : [email protected], [email protected])
The English Language Education (ELE)system in Bangladesh has been created based on the National Education Policy (NEP 2010)implemented by the authorities including the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (DSHE) and the University Grant Commission(UGC).It as a systemwhich covers a compulsory education of General English with an emphasis on the communicative English up to the pre-tertiary phase of education as well as the optional education of academic subjects in English medium at all phases of education. It, as a system, is not based on any kind of language policy rather than on some arguments, the instances of which can be found in the writings of advocates of ELE in Bangladesh. Imam (2005) and Hamid (2010) are such advocates who actually echo the suggestion of English language educationists who have been working to vernacularize English in the plurilingual countries, e.g. India, Kenya and Nigeria.They provide the following arguments: i) Englishis a colonial inheritance,ii) English is an international language, iii) English is a means for the access to global knowledge, and iv)English is a means for the access to global job market in favour of the compulsory provision for the ELE.
On the basis of above arguments, the ELE policy makers of Bangladesh made English language a compulsory subject in the education system of Bangladesh with the two basic principles: i) English for alland ii) Earlier is better.
The ELE system follows a principle of giving an extraordinary burden of ELE at the earlier phases of education and exemption from the requisite level of ELEto undertake study inthe higher phases of education. It also gives an exemption from the linguistic competency to be necessitated by the teachers at the entry toteaching jobs in each phase of education. In fact the prevalent ELE practices have brought forth a number of adverse consequences which are causing to damage the country’slanguage and culture as in the following descriptions.
1) Loss of Various Domains of Bangla Language: The prevalent ELE system has created a situation of language contact conducive to theborrowing and calquing of linguistic elements from English into Bangla. Many of the borrowingsfrom English are causing to replace the words and expressions, e.g. congratulations of Bangla. Because of the unusual borrowing and calquing, languages of academic domains in Bangla have been falling into disuse, the process which has been causing to disuse of the domain specific languages in Bangla. This process of disuse of domain specific languages has continued toyield deficiency in Bangla, which, in effect, has been causing to lose the capacity of Bangla in containing the growing disciplines of knowledge.
2) Change in the Linguistic Landscape of the Country: The consequences of the ELE system have manifested itself in the linguistic landscapes of Bangladesh. Accordingly change in the visual landscape can be noticedon the signboards/billboards in the cities and labels of commodities all over the country. There are some centers in every city, where hardly a Bangla billboard can be seen. The English medium institutions and organizations also present a visual landscape of languagesthat they can hardly be recognized asit to bea part of Bangladesh. The change in the acoustic linguistic landscape can also be noticed in the localities. The code-mixing of Bangla and English as well as the code switching from Bangla to English have been common phenomenon in the premises of different social and educational institutions, and corporate offices. They can be noticed in the speech and music broadcasted through the TV and radio. Hence the ELE has continued to shape the national culture and create English subculture in the major cities, and causing to loss the empathy to the indigenous culture.
3) Shifting of Bangla Medium Institutions into English Medium Corporate Organizations: The consequences of prevalent ELE has manifested in such a way that the government and private institutions, and the corporate organizations have continued to turn into English medium organizations for which the main cities of Bangladesh have appeared to be the cities of the English speaking countries.
4) Reproduction of English subculture: The ELE has been shaping the thinking process of the English educated who have been contributing to the creation of English subculture within the Bangalee culture,which is different fromits parent Bangalee culture, by importing culture of the Anglophone countries. The reproduction of this homegrown English subculture has been steadilyoccurring with the participation of English educated people coming out from the English medium schools and universities. Hence it has now been evident that the ELE practices have appeared as means to reproduce the extraneous English subculture with the own resources.
5) Submission to the Englishlinguistic empire: The ELE carried over from the British colonial education system has been contributing in withstanding a condition for the submission of Bangladesh to the English linguistic empire. Though English was once merely a language of the UK, ithas now been the language of dominant countries, e.g. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and the USA, which are actually the colonies of invading Europeans occupied in the last centuries (cf.Phillipson, 2009). This is how the Anglophone countries have achieved pre-eminence over other major powers of the world since the era of colonial expansion.
6) Creation of Social disparity: The ELE has been the symbol of power, prestige and economic affluence (Imam, 2005). It has been means of social mobility in that it serves as means for jumping to the higher socio-economic strata from the lower socio-economic strata. It has brought disadvantage for the poor social class, because of their socio-economic disposition.Therefore the ELE policy has been contributing in shaping the society which can be characterized with economic disparity (cf. Hamid, 2010).
Thus Bangladesh, consequently, has got a faulty ELE systemwhich has continued to yield undesirable consequences in the society and culture of Bangladeshthat call for a reformation of the prevalentELE system in Bangladesh. Therefore a new ELEsystem is required to be formulated based on a rigorous language planning grounded on thelanguage policy underpinned with a consolidated linguistic ideology.
(A.B.M. Razaul Karim Faquire, Ph.D., Professor, Institute of Modern Languages, University of Dhaka, E-mail : [email protected], [email protected])
