LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 4 : 8 August 2004

Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Associate Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.

A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL IN BANGLADESH -
A COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH TO CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Md. Kamrul Hasan, Ph.D.

Contents

PREFACE

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2 SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH

CHAPTER 3 LANGUAGE TEACHING THEORIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION A REVIEW OF ENGLISH CURRICULUM IN BANGLADESH

CHAPTER 4 LANGUAGE TEACHING THEORIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION A REVIEW OF ENGLISH TEACHING MATERIALS IN BANGLADESH

CHAPTER 5 LANGUAGE TEACHING THEORIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION A REVIEW OF ELT CLASSROOM STRATEGIES IN BANGLADESH

CHAPTER 6 REVIEW OF TESTING SCHEME AND EVALUATION POLICY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING (ELT) IN BANGLADESH

CHAPTER 7 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

APPENDIX A SYLLABUS AND DISTRIBUTION OF MARKS

APPENDIX B QUESTION PAPERS

APPENDIX C QUESTIONNAIRES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DETAILED LIST OF CONTENTS

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PREFACE

Over the decades, language teachers and others concerned with language teaching have witnessed multitudes of methods of and approaches to language teaching. However, it is only in the recent years that the English language curriculum in Bangladesh has gone through notable changes.

The changes were brought about through several means. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) designed a communicative syllabus for the secondary level, published the guidelines to produce textbooks, and encouraged the teachers to carry out the teaching according to the syllabus. It has also produced communicative textbooks for classes 6 to 12. 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.

However, students are still far away from the expected levels of proficiency.

Inconsistencies were mostly found at the classroom implementation level. The teachers of English somehow failed to adhere to an appropriate methodology to carry out teaching and learning.

Some deficiencies were noted at other levels as well. For example, curriculum did not address the students' and teachers' existing communicative competence, their proficiency levels, and the hopes and hurdles they broght with them to the class. As for the examinations, questions were still set from the set textbooks, which generally may not focus on communicative aspects of language use, etc.

My Ph.D. dissertation presented here puts the above conditions in perspective, and discusses the different components and stages of the existing English language curriculum at the secondary level of education in Bangladesh.

The early inspiration for this work came from my days in Bandura Holy Cross High School, Dhaka, where I was taught English by one of my favorite teachers Late Bro. Donald, C.S.C, who developed a methodology of his own, which proved appropriate to carry out teaching and learning English in our situation effectively. Also during my days in Savar Model Academy, Dhaka, where I taught English to the students of classes 9 and 10 in 1997, this interest further grew in me. While learning English, I found that many of my teachers treated me as an empty receptacle. While teaching English, however, I saw many teachers still failed to address students' existing communicative competence.

However, the major part of encouragement to take up this topic for research came from Professor A.R. Fatihi, Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University, India, presently Visiting Faculty at Cornell University, U.S.A. He not only gladly assumed the responsibility to supervise my research and guided me with great insight, but also helped and mentored me in every respect relating to my research and personal life. It was his painstaking, patient, and continuous guidance that enabled me to write and complete this dissertation. So, I am indeed grateful to Professor Fatihi.

In preparing this thesis, I took help from many others. At first, I should express my deep sense of gratitude to Professor Mirza Khalil Beg, Chairman, Department of Linguistics, A.M.U., who helped me in many ways and provided all possible facilities from the department.

I consider it my pleasant duty to thank all the teachers and staff of the Department of Linguistics, staff and officials of Maulana Azad Library, officials and staff of IER Library, Dhaka University, who helped me in all possible ways. My special thanks go to Mr. Gulam Hussain Bhuyan, Deputy Librarian, IER Library, Dhaka University, who placed all the necessary written materials in my disposal. My special thanks also go to Dr. Syed Ikhtiar, Lecturer, Department of Linguistics, AMU, whose suggestions were very valuable in the final stage of my work.

My thanks also go to those students and teachers of Mirpur Monikanchan High School, Bandura Holy Cross High School, Bogra Cantonment Public School and College, Talifuzul Quranil Karim Senior Madrasah, and Unail Alim Madrasah, who eagerly came forward to help me in the collection of information, through interviews, etc.

I wish to express my deep regard and profound love to my parents, parents-in-law, brothers and sisters, who always motivated me to complete the thesis.

Finally, a sense of obligation beckons me to mention the name of Hasi, my wife, who kept me away from all the family chores and remained a constant source of inspiration all the time during these years. She not only gave me opportunity to work, but also did a lot -- sometimes read parts of my work, sometimes listened attentively while I read it to her, sometimes typed it for me. All these she did in addition to her regular office duties as a scientific officer of INST, AERE, Savar, Dhaka, along with raising our daughter, Sememe, who barred me many times from the work by clinching my pen and clicking the keyboard, but always pepped me up.

Md. Kamrul Hasan

CONTENTS PAGE

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LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED

Symbols/ abbreviations	Expressions
CC	Communicative Competence
CLT	Communicative Language Teaching
DM	Direct Method
EFL	English as a Foreign Language
EFT	English For Today
EL	English Language
ELTIP	English Language Teaching Improvement Project
ELT	English Language Teaching
ELL/T	English Language Learning and Teaching
ENL	English as a Native Language
ESL	English as a Second Language
FL	Foreign Language
GTM	Grammar Translation Method
L1	First Language
L2	Second Language
LAD	Language Acquisition Device
MEB	Madrasah Education Board
NCTB	National Curriculum and Textbook Board
S	Student
SL	Second Language
SS	Students
T	Teacher

CONTENTS PAGE

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table No.		Page No.
2.1	Student’s proficiency levels as viewed by students	19
2.2	Student’s proficiency levels in four basic skills as viewed by students	20
2.3	Students proficiency levels as viewed  by teachers	21
2.4	Extent of use of English in classroom discussion as view by students	23
2.5	Extent of students' participation in pair/group work as viewed by students	23
2.6	Extent of practising four skills as viewed by students	24
2.7	Students' use of English in real life as viewed by students	25
2.8	Extent of students' use of English as viewed by teacher	26
2.9	Teachers' proficiency levels as viewed by teachers	31
2.10	Extent of teachers' use of English as perceived by teachers	32
3.1	Grammatical syllabus	41
3.2	Collaborative balanced syllabus	45
3.3	Extract from NCTB syllabus for class 10	67
3.4	Number of new vocabulary to be introduced in different classes	68
5.1	Students' perception of EL needs	128
5.2	Students' EL needs as viewed by teachers	130
5.3	Students' perception of needs of language skills	133
5.4	Extent of practising four skills as viewed by students	134
5.5	Extent of use of English in classroom discussion as viewed by students	135
5.6	Extent of students' participation in pair/group work as viewed by students	136
5.7	Students' view of how they learn more	137
5.8	Teachers' knowledge of different methods	138
5.9	Teachers' arrangement of use of language for communication	140
5.10	Students' participation in pair/group work as viewed by teachers	141
5.11	Teachers' preference of different aspects of language learning/teaching	142
6.1	Techniques of testing language skills	149-150

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LIST OF FIGURES USED

Fig. No.		Page No.
3.1	Product and process Syllabuses	40
3.2	Components of communicative task	47
3.3	Language acquisition device (LAD)	53
3.4	The input/out system in language development	54
5.1	Teaching language as communication	109
5.2	Teaching language as discourse	110
5.3	Colour chart	111
5.4	Mariam's family	112
5.5	Imperative symbols	113
5.6	Story telling activity	120
7.1	Integration of four levels of curriculum development	170

CONTENTS PAGE

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

1.1 World English

The global distributions of English are often described in terms of three contexts. These are English as a Native Language (ENL), English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Thus the diffusion of English throughout the world is seen in territories, viz., ENL territories, ESL territories and EFL territories (Braj B. Kachru in Koul N. Omkar (eds.) 1992: 2 -3, Crystal D 1995: 107, McArthur 1996 p: 327). In ENL territories English is spoken as the first or often as the only language. Here ENL refers to the mother tongue variety of English. In countries like the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, English enjoys the status of native language. In ESL territories many people use English for various purposes. English plays a vital role - official, educational, and other. Here (ESL) English is an institutional language. It has an institutional variety as well. English is used as a second language in almost all the former British colonies. Some of the major features of ESL countries are as follows:

1. English is one of the linguistic codes of the country.
2. It has acquired an important status in language policy.
3. It is learned at schools to an adequate level for national and/or international use.

English is used as a second language for many purposes in such countries as India, Nigeria and Singapore. A person's chronological second language, however, in many cases becomes the functional first language of adulthood. Under such conditions as migration, an original second language may become the person's only language.

In EFL situations, however, English may be more or less prestigious, and more or less welcomed in particular places. Many people learn it for occupational purposes and/or for education and recreation. English is taught as a foreign language in many countries like China and Japan.

1.2 ELT in Bangladesh: A historical sketch

McArthur (1996) locates Bangladesh in the ESL territories. However, in elsewhere he says in Bangladesh English is neither a second language nor it is a foreign language. Ibid. To give a clear idea about the ELT context of Bangladesh, the following sections present a historical overview of ELT in Bangladesh.

1.2.1 Pre-colonial period

English was first introduced in the South Asian subcontinent in the18th century when the Mughal Empire was on decline. However, it paved the way towards the sub-continent following the path of Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries after Vasco de Gama discovered the sea-route to India in 1498.

At that period although Portuguese was used as the 'lingua franca' -- a common language among the people of both Europe and the sub-continent, after the Englishmen formed their own company, English became the language of communication of the elite people of the both sides. And as it was used only by the elite groups, English never became a Creole or Pidgin. Rather a fairly standard variety of it entrenched among the select elite people. Some later-days' varieties like 'shahib variety', 'Bulter variety' etc. are exactly what their names imply (Dil, S.Anwar 1966 in Dil, S. Anwar (ed) p-199; Krishnaswamy and Sriraman 1995).

1.2.2 Colonial period

It was Lord Mcaulay's minute of 1835 that, for the first time, addressed the necessity of teaching English in the South Asian subcontinent. (see Krishnaswamy and Sriraman 1995; also see the papers By Dutta, Selim and Mahboob, and Choudhury in Alam F. et al (eds.) 2001). However, a considerable amount of preparatory work had been going on since the consolidation of the activities of the East India Company in eighteenth century. Christian missionaries entered India as far back as 1759, and 1787 despatch welcomed the efforts of Rev. Swartz to establish schools for the teaching of English. That the socio-historical context for the dominance of English was gradually taking shape at least by the end of 18th century is supported by The Tutor, the first book written to teach English to the non-Europeans. It was published in Serampore in Bengal. The author John Miller himself printed this book in British Bengal in 1797. (Howatt 1984)

The early missionary activity also introduced processes of standardisation of unwritten and tribal languages. Although in most cases missionaries did not teach English, they translated the Bible into the native languages in the Roman orthography. Non-native English speakers thus created the norms of several local languages. The association of these languages with Roman orthography has today introduced an important dimension in the struggle to evolve writing systems of these languages.

Macaulay in his Minutes of 1835 spoke of the importance and usefulness of the education that would be given to the natives through the medium of English. He mentioned two objectives of such education. The first was to create through this education a class of natives who, despite their blood and colour, would be English in culture and be able to "interpret" between the rulers and the subjects. The second was to create a "demand" for the European institutions. Clearly both the objectives were designed to serve the interest of the Masters, not of the subjects. "When it comes," he said, "it will be the proudest day in English history." (Macaulay 1835 quoted in Chaudhury 2001)

Macaulay believed that it was necessary to introduce English in India, - Indian people 'cannot at present be educated by means of their mother tongue' (Macaulay 1835 qouted in Aggarwal 1983:5). He felt that Indian languages and literature were of little intrinsic value and Indian histories, astronomy, medicine etc., were full of errors and falsehood. The continuance of Sanskrit and Arabic in Indian education system, Macaulay was convinced, could only harm both the Indians and British government. He recommended the closure of Sanskrit and Arabic schools and a withdrawal of all financial support from these institutions. No books were to be printed in Sanskrit and Arabic. He said: We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from western nomenclature and to render them by degree fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the populations (quoted from Macaulay 1835 in Aggarwal 1983: 11)

The aims and objectives of teaching English were thus very clearly defined in the middle of the nineteenth century. Das Gupta (1970: 40-45) says that to prove that English language, culture, literature, and people were superior to anything Indian was the primary purpose for introducing English as the medium of instruction and as a subject of study.

As early as 1823, Ram Mohan Roy had written to Lord Amherst that the Sanskrit system of education could only keep the Indians in darkness. In Mumbai, on the other hand, the emphasis was on the vernacular languages. Since governmental support was available only for English, the movement for the dominance of English became more rigorous.

Wood's despatch of 1854 marked a position for vernacular languages, at least in policy. Although wood recognised the role that the vernacular languages can play in mass education, the superiority of British language and culture remained unquestioned. The despatch said, 'we look, therefore, to the English language and the vernacular languages of India as the media of diffusion of European knowledge... (see Agnihotri and Khanna (eds.) 1995: 17). English thus was to be the language of the select elite, used in power and prestige; 'vernacular' languages were for the masses to be used in peripheral domains.

In 1837 English and vernacular languages had already replaced Persian in the proceedings of the law courts - English in the higher and vernacular languages in the lower courts. Thus, in both education and law courts, language became a marker of two separate levels of social operation -the upper level for English, the lower level for the vernaculars. The policy of administrators consciously promoted the association of English with the status of privilege...(quoted from Das Gupta 1970: 43-44 in Agnihotri and Khanna (eds.) 1995: 18).

In fact, a large-scale literary and linguistic engineering was done for the permanence of British imperialistic expansion in India. The consolidation of English literature as a discipline and the introduction and establishment of English as medium of instruction and as a subject of study were a part of this engineering. (cf. Rajan, S. 1993: 9-11)

The story of English in the remaining period of colonial rule can be described in terms of a few landmarks such as the establishment of universities in Kolkata, Mumbai and Channai in 1857 and in Dhaka in 1920 resulting selective education and training in administration, imparted through English, the Indian University Act (1904) and the Resolution on Educational Policy (1913).

We notice three broad developments with regard to English education during the British rule:

1. Levels of attainment in English: During the early years (1600 -1800) the high variety called the shahib variety was imitative and formal. During the later years (1850 -1947) more varieties (from very high to very low) appeared.
2. Interaction with vernacular languages: A number of words of vernacular origin were absorbed in English, e.g., Brahmin. Coolie, jungle, and so on.
3. Methodology: Language studies in colonial period and before colonial period were based on literature and grammar and the means of studies was the grammar-translation method. The spoken component of the language was not practised. The emphasis was given on accuracy and full sentence.

1.2.3 Post colonial period

The question of language loomed large after 1947 with the creation of two nation states- India and Pakistan. India opted for Hindi and in Pakistan, a "Muslim nation state" attempts were made to make Urdu -the " Muslim language (?)" -the state language. In the face of violent protest from the East Pakistan, culminating in the tragic shooting death on February 21, 1952, both Bengali and Urdu were made the state languages of Pakistan. In these circumstances, neither Bengali nor Urdu but English became the common language for communication between East and West Pakistan. Thus in Pakistan period English enjoyed the status of second language and it was taught as a functional language at secondary schools in Pakistan (1962 report of Curriculum Committee).

After the liberation, Bangladesh made Bengali the state language and the status of English was drastically reduced. Bengali replaced English in all official communications except those in foreign missions and countries and in armies, where English is still used as official language. Also in secondary and higher secondary education Bengali became the only medium. Attempts were made to translate English books into Bengali to meet the needs of books in different subjects. However, English was still a compulsory subject through secondary and higher secondary levels. From B. A. level English was withdrawn as a compulsory subject. Moreover, the Bangla Procolon Ain (Bengali Implementation Act) of 1987 ceased English to be used as an official second language. The result was drastic. The standard of English fell to the abysmal depth in public schools and universities. But what we experienced in later days is the frustrating reality that Bengali has failed to be an adequate medium of education in the higher levels. And in recent years a large portion of the population have been going abroad for jobs, education etc. and this made the Government rethink the emotional withdrawal of English from B. A. level that was made in 1974. Now English has again come back as compulsory subject in B. A. level, even for science and commerce graduates.

1.2.4 The present state

The withdrawal of English as a medium of education from public schools led growing number of parents to send their children and wards to English medium schools, where students can prepare for English Cambridge or O' and A' level examinations. Graduates from these schools often remain very weak in Bengali but comparatively better in English. Many of them prefer to get admitted in foreign universities, sometimes in the United States.

The private university act 1992 allowed the setting up of a good number of universities, where English is used as the medium of instructions. These universities give special emphasis on English because English is in much demand and to attract students and their money. Editors of Revisioning English in Bangladesh (a book in which emerged essays from the biennial conference 1996 held in the Department of English, Dhaka University about rethinking the status of English in Bangladesh) say that students from these universities, though have the same level of proficiency as those from the public universities while get admitted, at the end of a four year stay acquire a higher level of proficiency and are often recruited by the multinational organisations who look for strong English language proficiency. (Preface to the book)

Now the growing number of private universities, English medium schools and tutorial centres that offer courses of different foreign universities and institutions and job advertisements of different local and multinational organisations and agencies mark the status of English in Bangladesh.

However, language had been and still has been a marker for separate levels of social operation. There are three education systems at secondary level in Bangladesh and existence of these three systems marks the divisive lines between three classes of people - the rich, the middle class and the poor. Bengali represents the mainstream as in the public schools and colleges it has been the medium of education. The other two streams are English medium schools and madrasahs. In madrasahs though Bengali is the medium of instruction, Arabic has a prestigious place there. While the middle class people opt for (or are compelled to opt for) Bengali (in public schools and colleges), the poor (are compelled to) and the rich choose Arabic and English respectively. Thus, education in Bangladesh, instead of bringing people together works as a divisive force (Choudhury S. I.: "The state and people" appearing in The Daily Star in the special supplement on 'Amar Ekushey', 21 February 2003).

Choudhury S. I. in his paper "Rethinking the two Englishes" rightly said, " The acquisition of English happens to be an instrument for gaining both power and prestige and to limit its knowledge to a section of society would be to deprive others of a right." (In Alam F. eds. 2001: p-16)

1.3 English in the curriculum of Bangladesh

1.3.1 ELT needs in Bangladesh

In Bangladesh a number of foreign languages like Arabic, French, Japanese, Persian, etc. are taught at universities. But for a number of reasons only one foreign language i.e., English is taught as a compulsory subject across primary, secondary, higher secondary, and even the tertiary levels. To mention some: it is used as a lingua franca for global communication. For this, to deal with different international bodies and organisations working within and outside the country people need English. Furthermore, English gives them easy access to the ever-expanding knowledge of science and technology, arts and education, innovations and discoveries as all the works - books, journals, reports, research-findings - are available in English. It is the language of information technology that has, in fact, made the whole world a global village. English is the language of the international labour market. English for occupational/ professional purposes can help find jobs in other countries. In the local labour market also English has a prestige. Knowing the language of a country, say Saudi Arabia, may help one be enable to work in that country or in a country where that language (here Arabic) is spoken. But knowing English enables to work more or less in the whole world.

So, English is a surviving language for some people, e.g., those who are seeking or doing jobs in foreign countries. Some others use it as a stairs towards good fortune. And yet some others see it as an attribute of prestige. Whatsoever might be the Bangladeshi people's attitudes towards English, it is uncontroversial that they need it. But just to state that English will be taught as a foreign language in Bangladesh does not adequately express the ELT needs of the country.

1.4 ELT policy in Bangladesh

It is the need of a national English language teaching policy that will address the practical needs for English in Bangladesh and determine what and how much English should be taught and for how long.

Making English study effective from primary to tertiary levels needs a lot of inputs and resources like trained teachers, communicative teaching materials and financial, infra-structural and management facilities. These resources are not equally available or favourable for learning English in all the educational institutions of the country. In some urban elite schools these inputs are mostly available and the school leavers can use English, more or less, in their further study or in jobs that they choose. But most of the rural schools lack in some or almost all these resources. As a result, teaching-learning English in these schools cannot be done in the way it should be done. In most cases, learning English means rote learning of grammar rules and textbook contents even without understanding.

Also students in these disadvantaged schools are not aware of the aims and objectives of studying English, except that they have to appear the examinations in this subject. Consequently, English often seems to be a heavy unnecessary burden to them. The time, energy and money spent on teaching-learning English at these schools are often wasted. Of all the students from class 1 to 14, some students have some benefits, no doubt, but some others do not need to study it all these years.

Under National University, to which all the colleges (government and non-government) are affiliated, all the B. A., B. Sc. and B. S. S. pass and honours students have to study a compulsory English course - General English, of 100 marks. But Many students in this level do not need this General English. For example, students doing honours in history, philosophy, sociology, etc. need English - but not general, grammar-based English. They need the kind of English that will facilitate their studies. Similarly, the students studying medicine, science and technology, business, etc. will need English for specific purposes, viz., English for nurses, English for doctors, scientific English, business English and so on. This is because the general English courses cannot cater the specific needs of these specialised areas of study.

1.5 The existing curriculum in Bangladesh

There are three levels or stages of secondary education in the combine education curriculum. These are - Junior Secondary, Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. In junior secondary level there are two sub-systems of education. These are -

1. General Education Sub-System
2. Madrasah Education Sub-System

In Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels, there are three sub-systems -

1. General Education Sub-System
2. Madrasah Education Sub-System
3. Vocational Education Sub-System

There are seven general education boards for the arrangement of examinations and certification of the general education sub-system. The National Curriculum And Textbook Board (NCTB) is responsible for the preparing curriculum and syllabus for the seven general education boards. The responsibility of the preparation of curriculum and syllabuses for the madrasah education sub-system and vocational education sub-system is assigned to the Madrasah Education Board and Technical Education Board respectively. They are also responsible for arranging examinations and for certification of their students.

1.5.1 The National Curriculum

In 1980s, the government of Bangladesh took initiatives to prepare and modernise the curriculum in order to meet the needs and challenges of the time. However, the existing curriculum proved inadequate for the changed world situation in 1990s. Therefore, the necessities to make the curriculum appropriate for the present situation have been felt, and some efforts have been taken to fulfil these needs.

In order to prepare a curriculum for the Secondary and Higher Secondary education and for the proper implementation of such a curriculum a Curriculum Preparation and Implementation Taskforce was formed. This taskforce proposed a framework for the national curriculum.

A curriculum committee consisting of eminent educationints and education administrators of the country was formed under the leadership of the Education Secretary. On the basis of detail discussion at a workshop on 6 and 9 November 1994 in the presence of eminent educationints and education administrators of the country the framework for the combine education system was finalised.

With the collaboration of National Curriculum and Textbook Board, the Higher Secondary Education Project, Madrasah Education Board and Technical Education Board, the Curriculum Committee prepared the new reformed curriculum.

For the circulation for teachers, students, textbook writers and those related to teaching the reformed curriculum was published in December 1995. It included syllabus checklist and guidelines for all concerned with the teaching and learning of English and other curricular subjects.

1.5.1.1 Place of English in the national curriculum

English is taught as a compulsory subject throughout all the levels of all the sub-systems. Bengali, the mother language, is also taught as a compulsory subject. In general and vocational education there are two compulsory papers of English and two papers of Bengali of 100 marks each, whereas in Madrasah education language syllabus in junior level differs from those of secondary and higher secondary levels. In junior secondary level Madrasah students read two compulsory papers of Arabic, one paper of English and one of Bengali, in secondary level one compulsory paper of English, Arabic and Bengali each and in higher secondary level one compulsory paper of English and Bengali each.

As mentioned above, the Madrasah students study two compulsory papers of Arabic in junior secondary level and one compulsory paper of Arabic in secondary level, which the other sub-systems lack. Of coarse, there are options to some optional subjects for all the students. Students of humanities group of both madrasah and general education sub-systems can take English as an additional subject of two papers of 100 marks each. However, the syllabuses of the two subsystems vary considerably.

1.6 The scope of study

The present study aims to look at different components of the English Language Curriculum at secondary level (from class 6 to 10) in Bangladesh from Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) point of view. It will study the English curricula of two major sub-systems -- general education sub-system and madrasah education sub-system. As very few students are affiliated under technical education sub-system and there are only a handful of vocational institutes, this study will not focus on technical education. However, curriculum development is viewed as a continuous process, e.g., teacher development as a component of curriculum development continues throughout the entire career of some teachers and for years in some other instances.

As curriculum is a large and complex concept and though the term curriculum can be used in a number of different ways (see Nunan 1989a: P-14), the work will view curriculum development from a broader perspective to refer to all aspects of planning, implementation, evaluating and managing a language education programme. A rational curriculum is, however, developed by first identifying goals and objectives, then by listing, organising and grading the learning experiences, and finally by determining whether the goals and objectives have been achieved or not (Nunan 1989a from Tyler 1949).

Chapter 2 of this work will look at the issues related to learners' needs -actual and desired, in terms of the social strata they belong to. Their attitudes towards English and proficiency levels will also be addressed. The proficiency levels of the teachers from different backgrounds and their attitudes to English will also be discussed. These issues are, in many ways, the determinants of what is intended in the planning level.

In chapter 3, the existing English language curriculum of Bangladesh will be looked at in some details to see what happens in the planning level. Curriculum guidelines of the Bangladesh National Curriculum and Textbook Board including the syllabus checklist provided in it will be discussed. It will also look in the curriculum and syllabus of Bangladesh Madrasah Education Board. But prior to all these a theoretical framework will be proposed incorporating the findings of Chapter 2 and modern development in the field of linguistics, applied linguistics and language teaching. Insight from other related and interrelated disciplines like sociolinguitics, psycholinguistics and discourse analysis will also be taken into account. These are rather the abstract levels of curriculum process. Turning more specifically to the concrete levels of curriculum process, chapters 4 and 5 will look in the works of textbook writers and teachers. In fact, these are the people who are the consumers of other people's syllabus and are presented with curriculum guidelines and sets of syllabus specifications.

Once having been presented with the curriculum guidelines or syllabus specifications, the classroom teachers are required to develop their courses and programmes form these guidelines (Nunan 1989a, p.17). As their immediate focus is day-to-day schedule within the learners in the classrooms, they tend to see lessons and units as the basic building blocks of their programmes. Chapter 5 will look in how teachers of different institutes translate the intentions of curriculum planners into actions that is, the teaching methodologies adopted in different institutions. Prior to that, it will explore different approaches and methodologies of language teaching conceived so far as on a theoretical basis and employed throughout the history of language teaching.

In the same way, the textbook writers have to write each unit as guided by the curriculum designers. Teachers' immediate preoccupations are with learning tasks and with integrating these tasks into lessons and/or units (Nunan 1987, 1989a-17; Shavelson and Stern 1981). Chapter 4 will appraise the case of communicative textbooks for language teaching in Bangladesh situation. It will make an assessment of books used in schools and madrasahs of Bangladesh from communicative language teaching (CLT) point of view.

Teachers and textbook writers are, in fact, the consumers of other people's syllabus. Another consumer of syllabus specifications is the examiner who will set an end- course-examination. However, traditional examination system has failed to assess students' progress and attainment in terms of their ability to use English in real life. So, there is a need to develop appropriate evaluation tools and concerned parties should interpret and use them successfully. Chapter 5, will make an assessment of current testing scheme and evaluation policy of Bangladesh. Prior to that, it will theorise an appropriate evaluation system, which will address both students' progress and their attainment in examinations.

For the successful operating of any programme, it should be installed rightly before. For a thorough study of the infrastructure, resources available, teacher community and the students, who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the programme, chapter 2 will look in the social strata and proficiency levels of learners and teachers in an ethnographic manner. Chapter 2 of this work is furnished with the information about the proficiency levels of the two parties in relation to social stratification.

A syllabus checklist is something that illumines others' way to proceed. In recent years, however, curriculum development has been viewed as a collaborative effort between learners and teachers. This gave rise to the learner-centred approaches to language teaching. In this approach, information by and from learners is used in planning, implementing, and evaluating language programmes (Nunan 1989a P-17). However, no curriculum can be totally learner centred or subject centred. This study stays somewhere in the continuum.

CONTENTS PAGE

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CHAPTER 2
SOCIAL STRATIFICATION AND PROFICIENCY IN ENGLISH IN BANGLADESH

2.1 Social variables in Bangladesh

Proficiency in English varies according to area, location, and city, in which the schools and madrasahs are based. Classroom conditions and teaching methods vary considerably. Therefore, although it is possible to assume that an average student after certain years of study, acquire knowledge of basic structures of English, however, it would be a misconception to assume that an average student across different villages, towns, and cities equally knows the structures of the language.

Social stratification shows that people acquire varying status in the society; they belong to many social groups; and they perform a large variety of social roles. People's social identity can be defined in terms of various factors such as social class, caste, colour, and family lineage, rank, occupation, genders, age groups, material possession, education etc. Linguistic correlates of all these factors can be found at all levels.

One of the chief forms of sociolinguitic identity derives from the way in which people are organised into higherarchically ordered social groups or classes. Classes are aggregates of people with similar social or economic characteristics. In Bangladesh the main variables in social stratification can be described in terms of urban versus rural; rich versus poor (economically advantaged versus disadvantaged groups); male versus female etc. Proficiency levels in English vary across these variables. Besides, different types of schools (for accommodating different classes of people), different types of teaching materials, teachers proficiency levels have impact upon the students' proficiency in English. This chapter attempts a discussion on how social differences relate to the proficiency levels of the students across schools and madrasahs in Bangladesh.

2.2 Social strata and students' proficiency levels

2.2.1 Urban versus rural

Students from urban areas show better proficiency in comparison with the students from the rural areas. Most of the urban students watch cable televisions; have easy access to cyber café; a good number of them read English newspapers. Some urban parents subscribe for English dailies. That is, the urban students have the opportunity to use English outside their classroom. In some urban schools computer education has been made compulsory from very early years of schooling. This makes the students learn and use English words and vocabulary items related to information communication technology (ICT). Their proficiency level is, therefore, much higher than that of the rural students. This is worth noting in different competitive examinations like admission tests in different universities and institutions, job interviews etc. In all cases the urban competitors especially, those from the metropolis do better than others.

2.2.2 Rich versus poor

Usually economically advantaged students do better than economically disadvantaged students across the towns and villages. However, a few exceptions may be noticed in all areas. But observation shows that upper class people are more proficient in English than the middle and lower class people, and the middle class people are more proficient than the lower class.

Another important aspect of family lineage is education. Especially the ones, whose parents are educated, have opportunity to use English in their family environment. This helps them to develop their proficiency in English and they do better than those whose parents are not educated.

With the introduction of compulsory primary education for all, many children from economically disadvantaged family have now got their names enrolled in primary schools and madrasahs, but this gives them just a nominal studentship. They acquire hardly any proficiency in English. And many of them do not continue their studies up to the secondary level.

The above discussion, by no means, means that all poor students will do worse than the rich students. The top-bottom polarisation of students' merits and their English proficiency does not parallel the top-bottom polarisation of people in terms of their socio-economic status.

However, economically advantaged parents tend to send their children to prestigious schools- as mentioned earlier, to English medium schools in some cases. This gives them a chance to use English to a greater extent and achieve a better proficiency in English. Furthermore, families whose children have the opportunity to operate cable television, use Internet and read English newspapers are likely to be more proficient than others.

2.2.3 Male versus female

In general, male students show better proficiency than their female classmates do. But it can be said that the girls from the urban areas in most cases do better than the boys from the rural areas with some exceptions being noticed. However, in higher-class families the proficiency level difference between male and female students becomes minimal. With the introduction of free education and stipend for female students of government and non-government schools and madrasahs up to class 12, a large number of female students have enrolled their name in schools. However, many of them cannot take studies seriously; their proficiency in English like in any other subjects is not up to the level of other students.

Despite the above cases, there are many girl students who are more proficient in English than the boy students. These girls do better than some boys in other subjects as well. That is sex as social variable has very little influence on English language proficiency of the school going students (secondary level students). However, many families do not take care of educating their girl children to the same extent as they do of educating their boy children. There are various reasons behind this; lack of social security, earlier marriage of girls and men being the only earning members of most families are some of these. In most families, women are hardly seen to be engaged in money incoming jobs. This is why they do not think of being proficient in English, which could ensure them getting good jobs. For the same reason very few girl students endeavour for higher education. These definitely have impact upon women education and upon their English language education.

2.3 Different types of school and different levels of proficiency

All schools and madrasahs do not have equal opportunity. Some urban schools, for example, include computer education as a compulsory subject, appoint well to do teaching staff for educating their students in a proper way. In a few urban schools only there are modern facilities available for language teaching. Most of the village schools do not have an English subject teacher. Teachers of other subjects in many schools teach English.

Moreover, different types of textbooks are adopted in different schools. Although all schools across the country under five general education boards have to teach their students the book English For Today published by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) as the main textbook, the teaching methods differ from school to school considerably. It can be mentioned here that for the classes six through twelve the national curriculum and textbook board published two sets of books for all curricular subjects except English and Bengali English and Bengali versions. In a few urban schools students have the two options to choose either set. In general, those who take English version show better proficiency than those who take Bengali version do. Besides, there are some English medium schools, which do not follow the curriculum of the NCTB. The majority of these schools claim to follow British curricula and their students prepare to sit for GEC O' and A' levels examinations. Some other schools, however, follow American curricula while some others follow others. Students of these English medium schools though are better in English their condition in Bengali is equally worse.

Bengali is the language of everyday communication throughout the country. But people who have the opportunity to use cable televisions and Internet are seen to switch over to English very frequently while speaking in Bengali. This is more common in urban areas than rural areas, in higher class than middle and lower classes. The opposite happens while the madrasah students especially the 'qawmi' madrasah students speak in Bengali. These students tend to switch over to Arabic and Urdu instead. They are, therefore, more proficient in Arabic and Urdu than English.

In above paragraphs, it has been shown that there are three categories of schools/educational institutions in Bangladesh for three classes of people. These are English medium schools, Bengali medium schools and madrasahs. The English schools are mostly very expensive and the madrasahs are cheapest. There is yet another category of schools where most of the middle class parents send their children especially for the early years of schooling. These are generally known as kindergarten schools (KG schools). The economically advantaged (rich) people send their children to English medium schools while the economically disadvantaged (poor) people send their children to madrasahs. The upper middle class people try to send children to English medium schools. However, there are a few Bengali medium schools, which are regarded as prestigious. The middle and upper middle class people in some instances try to get their children admitted in these schools.

2.3.1 Information by and from learners and teachers

In this investigation 300 students 100 from urban schools, 100 from rural schools, 50 students from urban madrasahs and 50 from rural madrasahs have been interviewed. In each area, students were selected randomly from junior secondary (JS) and secondary (S) levels disregarding their merit and place in classes. 100 teachers - 35 from urban schools, 35 from rural schools, 15 from urban madrasahs and 15 from rural madrasahs were also interviewed. Teacher samples were selected from those who teach English in any class from classes 6 to 10 in their institutions. While investigating, this researcher talked with them formally and informally. The formal investigation comprised questionnaires and the student and teacher samples. Informal investigation was carried out through observation and discussion with teachers and head teachers of different institutions. The researcher also talked with other groups of people concerned e.g., guardians and job givers. Discussion with all concerned reveals same kind of impression about English language proficiency across the country.

2.3.1.1 Students' proficiency levels as viewed by students

Students' responses to items 16 and 17 of the students' questionnaire reflect students' proficiency levels as viewed by the students themselves. In response to item 16/a (Do you think that you can cope with your teacher if he/she teaches in English?) most urban students (73 school students out of 100 and 33 madrasah students out of 50) answered in affirmative. From the rural areas also more than half of the students (57 school students out of 100 and 28 madrasah students out of 50) said that they could cope with their teachers if they teaches in English. Here the number of respondents form madrasahs is equally satisfactory as from schools. However, in students' evaluation of their proficiency, urban students marked higher than the rural students marked. The following table shows how students from different backgrounds responded to the question "How do you evaluate your proficiency?" (Item 16/b)

Options	Student samples(300)
	Urban school (100)	Urban madrasah (50)	Rural school (100)	Rural madrasah (50)
Very good	None	none	None	None
Good	34	11	23	8
Average	27	11	20	14
Weak	12	11	14	6
Did not respond	27	17	43	22

Table 2.1: Students' proficiency level as viewed by students

Students' responses to item 17 (Evaluate your different skills in English. Tick appropriate boxes) reveal that they are mostly weak in speaking and listening. They are better in writing and reading than in speaking and listening. This is perhaps the result of our long-standing tradition of teaching literary English that excluded any oral interaction in the class. However, their proficiency is not up to the mark in reading and writing as well and the condition is worse in rural areas than urban areas and madrasah students are weaker than school students. The following tables shows how students evaluated their proficiency in different skills:

	Students  from urban schools (100)				Students  from urban madrasahs (50)				Students  from rural schools (100)				Students  from rural madrasahs (50)
	L	S	R	W	L	S	R	W	L	S	R	W	L	S	R	W
Very good	12	7	12	8	2	—	5	5	10	—	17	5	—	—	—	—
Good	35	37	40	40	15	17	30	27	35	38	38	31	13	13	19	17
Average	28	31	40	42	23	20	13	14	31	37	41	39	16	9	16	17
Weak	25	25	8	10	10	13	2	4	24	25	4	25	31	28	15	16

Table 2.2: Students proficiency in four basic skills as viewed by students

Information furnished in the above tables is not unaffected by such things as the locality where the school/madrasah is situated, learners' age, sex and what type institute it is. Learners have been seen to evaluate their own proficiency in comparison with the other students of their own class, institute and locality. The rural students, for example, are unlikely to compare their performance with urban students and the vice versa. In the same way, the madrasah students are not likely to compare themselves with school students and the vice versa. The researcher's informal observation as well as students' performance in different competitive examinations and admission tests in different institutes reveal that urban students do better than rural ones and school students do better than madrasah students.

2.3.1.2 Students' proficiency levels as viewed by teachers

Teachers' response to items 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the teachers' questionnaire shows how teachers of different institutions across villages, towns and cities view their students' proficiency levels in English. In response to the question "Are they (your students) able to follow your class if conducted in English?" (Item 16), very few teachers of the rural areas answered in affirmative. Teachers from very well reputed schools of the urban areas answered in affirmative. Other urban teachers mostly ticked 'yes'. However, some of their urban colleagues confused and so, did not answered the question. Their confusion was obvious in the informal discussion with these teachers. So far as rural teachers are concerned the responses are mostly negative. Only a few teachers from very well reputed schools answered in positive. In this regard madrasah teachers were found responding mostly in negative. However, many madrasah teachers said they did a part time job in the madrasahs. These teachers are mostly full time teachers of different schools and colleges. The following table projects their answers:

	Teacher samples	Number of teachers who answered ‘yes’
Urban schools	35	28
Rural schools	35	11
Urban madrasahs	15	5
Rural madrasahs	15	Nil

Table 2.3: Students proficiency levels as viewed by teachers

Teachers' answers to item 17 (Do they raise questions in English?) and item 18 of the teachers' questionnaire, projects the same type of information as furnished in above table. However, in response to item 19 (Do your students write creatively?), very few teachers answered in affirmative - only 15 urban school teachers and 2 urban madrasah teachers. No teachers from the rural areas answered in affirmative to this question.

2.3.2 Extent of students' use of English

2.3.2.1 Extent of students' use of English as viewed by the students

The choice of a methodology in the language classroom is to a greater extent determined by to what extent the language is used in everyday life or outside classroom. In a monolingual language situation like Bangladesh, students have very little scope to use English in everyday life. However, in the present age of globalisation, different milieus of information communication technology have purveyed some students with access to internet, satellite television, mobile phone etc. This class of people have an opportunity to use English in occasions. This opportunity is not plainly distributed to all population of the country across villages and towns. Rather there is always differences between the urban and rural areas and in the same way between rich and poor people. Students from urban areas are seen to go to cyber cafes, watch cable television while rural students lack these facilities. Watching television still has been strictly prohibited for some madrasahs students. Even reading newspapers and magazines is discouraged in some madrasahs.

It has been observed that most urban school students (especially, those from the metropolis) read English newspapers or magazines, watch cable televisions, go to cyber cafes. These give them some chances to use English. Rural students are hardly seen to do these. The first category of the students frequently switch over to English while speaking with others though in Bengali. This type of code switching is also noticeable in the language of rural school students to a lesser extent. Madrasahs students, on the other hand, frequently switch over to Arabic or Urdu.

Items 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of the students' questionnaire reflect to what extent students use English inside classroom and item 10 reflects to what extent they use English outside the classroom that is, for real communication.

In response to item 5 (Which language(s) do you mostly use in English classes?) and item 6 (Which language(s) does your teacher mostly use in English classes?), almost all the students ticked the option English and Bengali. However, their rating in response to item 7 (How often classroom discussion is conducted in English in English classes?) and item 9 (How often do you participate in group or pair work/discussion?), differs across towns and villages. Although most of the students of all the institutes ticked the option sometimes, a good number of urban students ticked always in item 7 and always and very often in item 9. Their responses to items 7 and 9 are illustrated in table 2.4 and 2.5 respectively.

Table 2.4: Extent of use of English in classroom discussion as viewed by students

Options	Student samples(300)
	Urban		Rural
	School (100)	Madrasah (50)	School (100)	Madrasah (50)
Always	13	—	—	—
Sometimes	81	40	86	37
Rarely	6	8	10	13
Never	—	—	4	—
Did not answer	—	2	—	—

In response to item 8 (Do you practise the four skills in your English class?), all the students answered in affirmative for the reading and writing skills. In respect to two auditory vocal skills, i.e., listening and speaking, most urban students and a few rural students answered in affirmative. The following table projects their answers.

Table 2.5: Extent of students' participation is pair/group work/discussion as viewed by students

Options	Student samples(300)
	Urban		Rural
	School (100)	Madrasah (50)	School (100)	Madrasah (50)
Always	11	—	—	—
Very often	11		8	7
Sometimes	72	40	78	30
Rarely	6	8	8	10
Never	—	—	4	3
Did not answer	—	2	—	—

Table 2.6: Extent of practising four skills as viewed by students

As projected in the above table, emphasis is given on reading and writing skills in the English classroom. Listening and speaking skills are not practised to same extent as the other two skills are.

Responses to item 18 project students' real life use of English language. The following table shows how different groups of students responded to item 18 (Which of the following things do you do?) of the students' questionnaire: (Number mentioned against each item indicates how many students ticked the item.)

Use of English	Student samples
	School		Madrasah
	Urban  (100)	Rural (100)	Urban (50)	Rural (50)
Use English in family environment	22	13	10	6
Listen to TV news in English and see English TV programmes	53	34	14	6
Speak in English with teachers and other students in the English class (sometimes)	59	41	19	14
Read English newspapers	37	7	5	Nil
Read English books	37	10	5	5
Write letters in English	3	Nil	Nil	Nil

Table 2.7: Students' use of English in real life as viewed by students

Information provided in the above table reveals the extent of use of English by students from different backgrounds. The table projects that the urban students use English to a greater extent than the rural ones and school students use English to a greater extent than madrasah students.

2.3.2.2 Extent of students' use of English as viewed by teachers

In teachers' evaluation, students use English in their practical life to a lesser extent than the extent viewed by the students themselves. Teachers' responses to item 20 of the teachers' questionnaire (How many of your students do the following things?) reflect their evaluation. Most of the teachers ticked the option 'a few' for most of the activities. The following table projects their responses:

How many students	Teacher  samples(100)
	Urban (50)					Rural (50)
	All	many	Some	a few	none	all	many	some	a few	None
Use English in family environment	Nil	nil	Nil	36	14	nil	nil		30	20
Listen to TV news, see English TV programmes	Nil	nil	26	23	1	nil	nil	5	45	nil
Speak in English with teachers and other students in the English class (sometimes)	Nil	nil	25	25	nil	nil	nil	6	44	nil
Read English newspapers	Nil	nil	22	25	3	nil	nil	nil	23	27
Read English books	Nil	nil	12	32	6	nil	nil		24	26
Write letters in English	Nil	nil	Nil	16	34	nil	nil	10	9	31

Table 2.8: Extent of students' use of English as viewed by teachers

In the above table number of respondent teachers is mentioned in cardinal numbers and number of students who the teachers think perform the activities is written in the first column in scale amount words.

The table projects that most of urban (36) and rural (30) teachers say that a few of their students use English in family environment and some teachers (14 urban and 20 rural teachers) say that none of their students use English in family environment.

26 urban teachers and only 5 rural teachers say that some of their students listen to TV English news and see English programmes on televisions. 23 urban and 45 rural teachers say that a few students do these activities. However, 1 urban teachers says none of his students do these.

Half of the urban teacher samples (25) find their students sometimes speaking in English in the class and the other half find a few of their students doing that. On the other hand, only 6 rural teachers say that some of their students speak in English in the class and 44 teachers say "a few".

Most teachers say that a few students read English newspapers or English books. Most teachers think that none of their students write letters in English. 25 teachers (16 urban and 9 rural) think that a few students do this. However, 10 teachers from rural areas find some students writing letters in English.

In the above projection, teachers' responses are, of coarse, subjective. However, despite its subjectivity, it gives an overall picture of the students' extent of use of English in the daily life.

Observation amid different schools and institutions reveals that according to most teachers' evaluation, a very few urban students of junior secondary level can write a sentence of their own let alone a letter or paragraph.

So far as madrasah teachers responded, only a few madrasah students of the urban areas take the English subject seriously and can write a sentence of their own. The condition goes worse in higher classes. As a cause of this ill condition, the teachers mentioned the infrastructure of their institutions as unsuitable for carrying out effective teaching. Again a good number of students, who are very serious about their career leave madrasah and join schools and colleges in different stages of their study. The students who still remain with madrasah education, in most cases, take study as part time. Some do jobs as imams or muajjins in local mosques and some teach the children how to recite the Quran in village maqtabs.

2.4 Different types of teaching materials

In all the schools i.e., institutes of general education subsystem, the book English for Today is compulsory and in examinations, a seen comprehension passage is set from these textbooks. And there is an unseen comprehension; for this, students follow any of the books published by different publishers and approved by the NCTB (National Curriculum and Textbook Board). Again, these publishers also publish notebooks and guidebooks. However, all these books aim to help the students to do better in the examinations rather than to help them understand the textbooks. The nomenclature of some notebooks, e.g., Kamyab English, Touch and Pass, Sure Success etc. reflects how the publishers and writers of these books try to attract the student customers.

The Madrasah Education Board does not publish any English book for any classes. It approves books of different publishers and includes their names in its Curriculum and Syllabus report. As the madrasah board follow a traditional syllabus, these books are also written in a traditional manner. In fact, Madrasah Education Board does not give any syllabus specification for any class in terms of learning outcomes. Rather a list of prose and poetry and some explicit grammatical items are prescribed as syllabus for class 9 and 10. From classes 6 to 8, the condition is bad to worse. Here, in the name of syllabus, only the tittles of some books are listed as options, from which madrasahs can choose any.

Again, many madrasah students do not care about buying textbooks, rather they run for buying only guidebooks just weeks or days before the final examinations. As many madrasah students take their studies as part time, their irregular attendance help them a little with original textbooks.

In the national curriculum report, supplementary grammar books and English rapid readers have been suggestive for different classes. However, only a few urban schools include rapid readers in their syllabuses. And supplementary grammar books mean in most cases a book of traditional grammar, which include in it traditional definitions of grammar items, sample translation and so called model composition on stereotyped topics like a village doctor, a postman, golden fibre of Bangladesh and so on. There are a few urban schools, however, that include in their syllabuses books like Oxford Practice Grammar (by John Eastwood) or English Grammar in Use (by Raymond Murphy).

2.5 Teachers' proficiency levels

Teachers' proficiency levels vary from urban to rural areas considerably. The urban schools usually recruit qualified teachers, while the rural schools lack sufficient number of English teachers. In many rural schools, teachers of other subjects teach English. In many urban schools English teachers are graduates of English from Universities. Although these teachers are, in most cases, English literature graduates, they do better than those who are graduated from other subjects. Again, most of the teachers of reputed urban schools have pre-service or in-service training in English Language Teaching (ELT). Of coarse, a good number of English teachers across villages, towns and cities have a B.Ed. degree with English as a main subject. But in most cases their proficiency in English in not satisfactory. Most of the teachers are not familiar with communicative approach to language teaching. They dot not know what process oriented and product oriented syllabuses are.

Most of them (especially, those from rural areas) cannot write a piece of text (a letter or paragraph) of their own. They hardly listen to any English TV programme. They rarely use English to communicate with their students in English classes. They rarely read any English newspaper or any book written in English. While teaching, these teachers strive more on how far they can ensure that their students can cut good marks in their examinations. How to make teaching and learning more effective is hardly a matter of concern of these teachers. In most of the rural schools and many urban schools, the common picture is that their teachers are not fluent in listening, speaking, reading and writing. They just know the grammar of English and how to teach this grammar. The condition in madrasahs is bad to worse. As most of the madrasahs run with subscriptions or donations from the people and always lack sufficient fund, they cannot appoint full time English teachers. Teachers of schools and colleges teach in many madrasahs part time - two or three days a week.

In the institutions where there are English subject teachers, these teachers are not always graduates of English language. Most teachers have a B.A. degree with English as a compulsory subject. Some teachers, however, took elective English subject of three hundred marks (in three papers) in their B.A level. Of these three papers, only one paper is of English language (English grammar, translation and composition writing) and the rest two are of literature.

There are few teachers graduated in English Language, or Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching (ELT) or Linguistics. However, it is a matter of concern that literary experts select our English teachers. These experts are not always familiar with the modern development in applied linguistics and language teaching. As a result, many of them choose English literature graduates to teach English whereas those graduated from the department of Linguistics and English language should be given preference. As most of the teachers have little knowledge of linguistics and language teaching, they cannot cope with the new development in this field. As a result, their methodology of teaching differs from what is intended in the new curriculum. As Abdus Selim and Tasneem S. Mahboob (2001) said, while the very aim behind introducing new syllabus of English was to teach English as a language, giving special attention to idiomatic and phonetic aspects of the language the whole idea gets lost in the wilderness as the teachers have poor knowledge of phonetics. They also ignore the comprehension aspect, which is closely connected with the functional side of the language, as they bank heavily on grammar-translation method.

2.5.1 Teachers' proficiency level as viewed by teachers

Teachers' responses to item 3 reflect how they evaluate their proficiency in English. As projected in the following table, most of the teachers (62 out of 100) across villages and towns ticked the option 'good'. The second option (ticked by 33 teachers) is the option 'medium'. Teachers' responses to this question do not show any difference in their proficiency levels between rural and urban areas or between schoolteachers and madrasah teachers. However, a few urban schoolteachers preferred the option 'very good', which no rural teachers and no madrasah teachers ticked.

Table 2.9: Teachers' proficiency levels as perceived by teachers
(Note: *One urban teacher ticked two options.)

Skills	Teacher samples (100)
	Urban school (35)					Rural school (35)					Urban madrasah (15)					Rural madrasah (15)
	Very good	Good	Medium	Weak	Very weak	Very good	Good	Medium	Weak	Very weak	Very good	Good	Medium	Weak	Very weak	Very good	Good	Medium	Weak	Very weak
Listening	9	5*	18*	4			8	27					15				5	10
Speaking	9	5	14	7			5	23	7				11	4			4	10		1
Reading	31	4				32		3				11	4			2	10	3
Writing	31	4				30	2	2	1			11	3	1		2	10	3

Although it is the case that many urban English teachers are university graduates of English and many rural English teachers are actually teachers of others subjects like mathematics or science and many madrasah English teachers teach part time, the above table does not project any significant difference between proficiency levels of the teachers from different backgrounds. This does not mean that the urban and the rural teachers are more or less equally proficient in English. Rather our teacher samples from different backgrounds compared their skills and proficiency with those of their colleagues in the same institutes or same environments. They, in most cases, failed to address and question their own state in comparison with that of others in different environments.

So far as teaching skill is concerned almost half of the teachers evaluated their state (in response to item 4 of the teachers' questionnaire) as average and the other half as good. There is significant difference between urban and rural teachers' evaluations. The same reason is found behind this gross; that is, not many teachers compared their own skills with those of others in a different environment. However, their responses to item 5 reflect how far they are acquainted with the present trends in language teaching. Only a few teachers (15 from urban schools and 7 from rural schools) were found familiar with product and process oriented syllabuses, although almost all the teachers from both areas (48 urban and 49 rural) ticked 'yes' for the options communicative language teaching (CLT) and grammar translation method (GTM) (in response to item 5). 20 urban teachers (18 from schools and 2 from madrasahs) and only 7 rural teachers (all of them are schoolteachers) said that they were familiar with 'direct method'.

2.5.2 Extent of use of English

Not many teachers use English in their English classes. Only a few urban teachers occasionally use English outside the classroom. They subscribe, or at least read English newspapers. However, no one was found among the teacher samples who read English books for pleasure. Teachers' responses to item 6 and 12 of the teachers' questionnaire reflect the extent of use of English of the teacher community. Responses to item 6 reveal how often the teachers use English. The following table shows how they responded:

	Number of teachers who answered ‘yes’
	School		Madrasah
	Urban (35)	Rural (35)	Urban (15)	Rural  (15)
Listen to radio and TV news and see English TV programs	25	22	5	5
Speak in English with colleagues and others	27	22	9	5
Read English books for pleasure	5	Nil	Nil	Nil
Read English newspapers	24	14	5	Nil

Table 2.10: Extent of teachers' use of English as perceived by teachers

The information furnished in above table projects the extent of use of English of the teachers of schools and madrasahs across villages and towns.

Item 12 of the teachers' questionnaire projects how often teachers use English in English classes. In response to the question "Which language(s) do you use for classroom instructions?" all the teachers ticked the option 'English and Bengali'. However, while giving a rating for English and Bengali, none of the rural teachers gave more than 50% rating for English, while most of them (37 out of 50) gave a rating for English that was below 40 percent. On the other hand, only 10% (5 out of 50) urban teachers' rating for English was below 50%. 20% (10 out of 50) urban teachers gave a rating for English that was 65% or above 65%. Two urban teachers wrote that they used 90% English in English classes.

2.5.3 Teacher training

So far as teacher training is concerned, there is arrangement for training teachers of all levels. Primary teachers are trained in Primary Training Institutes (PTIs). There are 49 PTIs in the country. They produce about 100 teachers each year. Although primary teachers are expected to teach English as a compulsory subject from class one, there is no ELT provision in PTIs.

For training the junior secondary and secondary level teachers, there are 10 Teachers Training Colleges (TTCs) in Bangladesh. Huq et al (1997) says that more than 50% of secondary level subject teachers have received pre-service training (however, among the 100 teacher samples of this investigation, only 31 teachers received pre-service training and have a B. Ed. degree. Only 27 of them had English as one of the subjects of specialisation. (Teachers' response to item 2)) and a substantial programme of in-service training is conducted in this level under the auspices of Secondary Science and Education Project. The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) also holds some in-service workshop at this level in support of its new textbooks. Besides Bangladesh Open University and National University also offer B Ed and M Ed programmes. In B Ed programmes a trainee can take two subjects for specialisation. Among the subjects of specialisation, English is one of the options. Moreover, Bangladesh Open University has BELT (Bachelor of English Language Teaching) Programme. This programme has specially been designed to make some efficient English teachers. Despite all these efforts, there is still significant gap between the expected levels of proficiency of the teachers and what they actually posses. In most cases, the teachers have failed to comprehend the new communicative syllabus and the textbooks written according the guidelines provided in the syllabus.

2.5 Conclusion

As Bengali is the language of all types of communication in Bangladesh, the people of Bangladesh do not need English or any other language for their internal communication - official or ordinary everyday communication. They need English only to deal with different international agencies and other countries. It is in much demand in international job markets and some local organisations also recruit personnel who are proficient in English. Now English is a commodity for them; they need it. For some people, it is a survival language, say for example, those who are doing or seeking jobs in a foreign country. But the emotional withdrawn of it as a second language after the liberation in 1071 kept Bangladeshis too far away from a satisfactory state.

Any curriculum that aims to meet these ELT needs of the country must address the above social conditions, and take insights from time to time in coarse of development from all concerned parties - teachers, students, guardians, employers and others. And above all, those who work in the implementation levels, i.e., the teachers, and the textbook writers, and even the students should go through training so that they can cope with changes in the profession.

CONTENTS PAGE

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CHAPTER 3
LANGUAGE TEACHING THEORIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION: A REVIEW OF ENGLISH CURRICULUM IN BANGLADESH

3.1 Curriculum and its definition

The terms curriculum and syllabus are often used synonymously as in The school's English curriculum/syllabus. However, in its normal use curriculum has a wider reach, e.g., the widely used term curriculum development refers to the research work in developing many courses of study. The term syllabus development is not so commonly used, if used is more likely to refer to the work within one subject only. (McArthur1996: 251) The term curriculum development, if used for a single subject, refers to the subject in question to the all classes of an institute. For example, The school's English curriculum refers to parts of the school's curriculum that deal with English language education in all classes of the school.

The curriculum of a given institution can be looked at from a number of different perspectives (Nunan 1988). The first perspective is that of curriculum planning, that is, decision making, in relation to learners' needs and purposes; establishing goals and objectives; selecting and grading contents; organising appropriate learning arrangements and learner groupings; selecting, adapting, and developing appropriate leaning materials, learning tasks, assessment and evaluation tools.

Alternatively, curriculum can be studied 'in action' as it were. This perspective takes researchers into the classroom itself. Here they can observe the teaching/learning process and study the ways in which the intention of the curriculum planners, which were developed during the planning phase, is translated into action.

Yet another perspective relates to the assessment and evaluation. That is to see what the students had learned and what they failed to learn in relation to what had been planned.

Finally, it is the management of the teaching institution that is looked at. This includes looking at the resources available and how these recourses are utilised, how the institution relates to and responds to the wider community, how constraints imposed by the limited resources and decisions of the administrators affect what happens in the classroom, and so on.

All of these perspectives taken together represent the field of curriculum study, which is a large and complex one. In planning, implementation, and evaluation of a given curriculum all elements should be integrated, so that decisions made at one level are not in conflict with those made at another. For instance, in courses based on principles of communicative language teaching, it is important that these are reflected not only in curriculum documents or syllabus plan, but also in classroom activities, patterns of classroom interaction, and tests of communicative performance. (Nunan 1984, Johnson 1989)

3.2 Relations of Curriculum, syllabus and methodology

Different voices have been heard about the nature of 'the syllabus' and 'the curriculum' and also about 'the methodology'. Language teachers and specialists on the subjects posses conflicting views on what it is that distinguishes one from the others. Nunan (1988) and Nunan (1989a) distinguished a broad approach and a narrow approach to the subject. The narrow approach draws a clear distinction amid the area of these three subjects. Those who adopt a broader view argue that with the advent of communicative language teaching (CLT) this distinction is difficult to sustain.

The diversity of opinions regarding curriculum development, syllabus design and teaching methodology can be found in Brumfit (1984), where he quotes from Stern (1984), Widdowson (1984), Candlin (1984), Breen (1984) and Allen (1984). A thorough survey on different opinions reveals that some language specialists believe that the syllabus (the selection and grading of content) and methodology should be kept separate (e.g., Stern 1984); others think otherwise. But selection and grading of contents are not the only tasks in language teaching. One of the crucial tasks in a language programme is to specify, design and grade learning tasks and activities; and when (as we shall see in a later point) we talk of procedural syllabuses, we include these aspects within the reach of syllabus design. Then it becomes difficult for us to sustain the difference between syllabus and methodology, which is concerned with learning tasks and activities. van Ek's Threshold Level English (1975) gives a detailed account of various syllabus components which need to be considered in developing a language course. He mentions the following as necessary components of a language syllabus:

1. The situations in which the foreign language will be used, including the topics which will be dealt with;
2. The language activities in which the learner will engage;
3. The language functions which the learner will fulfil;
4. What the learner will be able to do with respect to each topic;
5. The general notions which the learner will be able to handle;
6. The specific (topic-related) notions which the learner will be able handle;
7. The language forms which the learner will be able to use;
8. The degree of skill which the learner will be able to perform. (van Ek 1975:8 - 9 qouted in Nunan 1988)

van Ek's view can be said to be the broader view of syllabus design, and these are the basic components of curriculum development. Bell (1983) relates syllabus design i.e., the selection and grading of contents with the other components of curriculum development and says that teachers are in main the consumers of other people's syllabuses. Their role is to implement the plans of applied linguists, government agencies, and so on. Of coarse, there are some teachers who have a relatively free hand in designing the syllabuses, on which their teaching programmes are based. Nunan (1988) says that curriculum has at least three phases: a planning phase, an implementation phase, and an evaluation phase. Johnson in Johnson 1989 (ed.) defined four stages of language curriculum development viz., curriculum planning, ends (learning outcomes) and means (methodology) specification, programme implementation and implementation in the classroom. Evaluation in Johnson's framework is not a stage in itself rather an integral and necessary part of each and all of the stages.

3.3 Stages in curriculum development

Having different perspectives in mind, the following framework can be proposed for curriculum development:

1. A planning phase, which includes a thorough needs analysis, policy making, setting goals and objectives and syllabus content specification.
2. An implementation phase, which includes among others materials production, development of the infrastructure and appropriate teaching arrangement, teacher development programme and everyday happenings in the classroom.
3. Evaluation phase -developing appropriate assessment and evaluation tools to measure students' progress and attainment.

However, evaluation should be an integral part of each and every level. For example, in planning phase it should look back whether what is intended in this phase matches language policy and the learners' need or whether the goals set out are realistic and attainable. In implementation phase it should address learning outcomes as set out in the syllabus specification and measure how far teaching and learning are taking place and whether the concerned parties could translate the intention of the planners into action. In evaluation phase it should evaluate the evaluation tools and policy itself. Finally, the planners should take insights from evaluation of each stage of development and make necessary changes.

3.3.1 Needs analysis

In recent years, much emphasis has been given on information from and about learners. Assumption about the learner's purpose in undertaking a language course, as well as the syllabus designer's beliefs about the nature of language and learning can have a marked influence on the shape of the syllabus on which the course is based. Learners' purposes will vary according to how specific these are, and how immediately they wish to employ their developing language skills. Techniques and procedures for collecting information, which is to be used in syllabus design, are referred to, as needs analysis. (Nunan 1988:13)

In needs analysis, the analysts not only collect information about why learners want to learn the language, but also information about such things as social expectation, and teaching/learning constraints, and the resources available for implementing the programme.

3.3.2 Policy making

Policy makers respond to the needs of learners, and the needs of an entire society as well. They determine the overall aims of curriculum and while doing this, are influenced in varying degrees by special interest groups who are able to bring pressure to bear.

The term 'policy' refers to any broad statement of aims; it may be at the level of the national curriculum (e.g., English is to be taught in Bangladesh as foreign language in secondary schools) or an idea that a teacher or a learner puts forward for the classroom (e.g., let's have a debate on Friday).

In different educational contexts, different people play the role of policy makers and the policy is stated more or less formally. Even a language learner who hires a tutor is a policy maker. However, the teacher may influence the student to modify that policy. A commercial language school makes its own policy and sets it out in its prospectus. Students decide whether the aims stated in it coincides with their own aims. Market forces in this case determine policy.

National language policies are determined primarily by socio-political pressures, which vary from one culture and socio-political system to others, the primary concern of most governments being to maintain, and if possible extend their power, influence and acceptability. A policy statement in most cases, however, tends to be utopian, as there is no limits on what is desirable. And it is the government who determines the national language policy and the business of curriculum specialists is to state what is attainable and what is not, and the cost of implementation. In fact, there are a large number of constraints on what can be achieved, for example, limited or little opportunity to use the target language outside the classroom, or insufficient number of trained teachers etc. (Johnson in Johnson 1989 (ed.))

3.3.3 Setting objectives

Setting of objectives starts with the policy documents as its directives and should provide an exact characterisation of target proficiency. With the growing concern of communicative competence generated by Dell Hymes, setting objectives reflects inter alia a feeling about what it is that should be taught or learnt if a non-native is to be communicatively competent in a language. Usually objectives are spelt out in terms of leaning outcomes that are to be attained.

3.3.4 Syllabus specification

In developing syllabus for any language programme, the designer starts with an analysis of or beliefs about the nature of language and learning process, information about and from the learners, about the infrastructure of the institutions and resources available. The key questions that come forward for his acknowledgement are:

• from a language perspective, 'what linguistic elements will be learned/ taught?'
• from a learner perspective, 'what will the learner do with the language while learning?'
• from a learning/teaching perspective, 'what activities will stimulate or promote language acquisition?'

A syllabus designer incorporates insights from all these perspectives. But there still remains possibility of shifting focus from one perspective to another. This suggests a conceptual distinction between product oriented and process oriented models. However, there is no one syllabus that can be a sheer product syllabus or a sheer process one. We rather see the two views in a continuum - the more a syllabus is product oriented the less it is process oriented.

Figure 3.1: Product and process syllabuses

3.3.4.1 Product oriented syllabus

In a product approach to syllabus design, the focus is on language skills or knowledge and sometimes functions. Here grammar rules or structures and sometimes language functions or notions are listed in an order in which to teach them.

3.4.4.1.1 Structural/grammatical syllabus

The grammatical syllabus is the oldest of form of product syllabus. In this model grammar rules or structures are listed in syllabus, often out of context and it is believed that learning grammar rules will enable students write correct sentences. Speaking and listening skills are not considered important; syllabus does not mention any of this.

Grammatical syllabus lists grammatical forms and no or little attention is paid to their use. One form is related to one meaning. For example, the structure -Be + NP or Be + Adjective: 'the window is open', may be used to give information about the window - that is, it is open, not closed. Now if we consider the linguistic context of this sentence as in -'it's going to rain and the window is open', we see that the sentence -'the window is open' may mean a request - the speaker requests someone to close the window. Even 'a cloudy sky' or 'the moment when it has started raining, may supply a physical context for the sentence -'the window is open' to mean a request.

In grammatical syllabuses, structures are ordered in terms of grammatical complexities. Most rigid grammatical syllabuses take one item at a time for one meaning and require mastering of that item before moving onto the next (Nunan 1988: p-28). The extract in table 3.1 illustrates this point:

Lesson (l) has drilled copula and adjective combinations: She is happy

Lesson (m) introduces the -ing form: She is driving a car

Lesson (n) introduces existential there: There is a man standing near the car

Lesson (o) distinguishes between mass and count nouns: There are some oranges and cheese on the table

Lesson (p) introduces verbs like and want: I like oranges but not cheese

Lesson (q) introduces don't previously known in negative imperatives: I don't like cheese

Lesson (r) introduces verbs with stative meaning: I don't come from Newcastle

Lesson (s) introduces adverbs of habit and thus the present simple tense; or rather the present tense in simple aspect: I usually come at six o'clock

Table 3.1: Grammatical syllabus (from McDonough 1981: 21 quoted in Nunan 1988)

During 1970s the use of grammatical syllabuses came under criticism. Here are some problems associated with ordering grammatical items in terms of difficulty:

• Learners' ability to understand particular grammar point is not equal. What is difficult to one learner may not be equally difficult for another.
• In our real life communication we need more than just one structure to express one meaning. Therefore, introduction and teaching of one structure at a time slows learning process down.
• It is neither possible nor necessary to learn all the structure of a language. ( Huq et al: 1987: p-161)

3.3.4.1.2 Notional-functional syllabuses

As the grammatical syllabuses had been criticised as being inadequate, the notional-functional model of syllabus design became popular in 1970s. In developing notional-functional syllabuses inventories of notion like, object, entity, time, quantity, one and many, part and whole, probability, possibility etc. and functions like, requesting, complaining, apologising, asking and giving information etc. are listed as contents. In situational syllabuses different social settings or real life situations constitute the syllabus inventory.

Notional-functional syllabuses have been criticised in the same way as grammatical syllabuses have been, since the inventories of notions and functions do not necessarily present the way languages are learned any more than inventories of grammatical points or lexical items.

In fact, dividing language into discrete units of whatever types misrepresents the nature of language learning (Nunan 1988: p-37). Any content-based syllabuses frustrate learners developing creativity and language knowledge that will enable him to use it to communicate.

3.3.4.2 Process oriented syllabus

Process syllabuses focus on the process of learning itself rather than the end product of this process. Such non-linguistic approaches as procedural, task-based and content-based approaches are adopted in process syllabuses. As a result of this adoption, the distinction between syllabus and methodology becomes blurred.

In a process syllabus, the activities of the students are listed in the course content. There have been attempts, however, to distinguish between procedural and task-based syllabuses. But some like Richards, Platt and Weber (1985) have seen them as synonymous. They described them as follows:

... a syllabus which is organised around tasks, rather than in terms of grammar and vocabulary. For example, the syllabus may suggest a variety of different kinds of tasks which the learners are expected to carry out in the language, such as using the telephone to obtain information; drawing maps according to oral instructions; performing actions according to commands given in the target language; giving orders and interactions to others, etc. It has been argued that this is a more effective way of learning a language since it provides a purpose for the use and learning of a language rather than simply learning language items for their own sake. (Richards, Platt and Weber 1985)

In fact, procedural and task-based syllabuses share a concern with classroom processes, which promote learning. Nunan suggests that despite some differences in practice, principles underlying the two models are very similar. Both models focus on the role of the learner in the learning process.

Tasks are so designed as to 'creating conditions for coping with meanings in the classroom to the exclusion of any deliberate regulation of the development of grammatical competence or a mere simulation of linguistic behaviour.' (Prabhu: 1987:1-2) While carrying out any types of tasks, the conscious mind works out some of the meaning-content, a subconscious part of the mind perceives or acquires or recreate as a cognitive structure some of the linguistic structuring embodied in those entities, as a step in the development of an internal system of grammatical rules.

It has been argued that process-oriented syllabuses seem to be inadequate or ineffective in situations where there is no or little opportunity to use English. Not only that, students may have problems in identifying their needs and selecting right materials. (Ibid. 166)

3.3.4.3 Communicative syllabus

The principles of communicative syllabus design lie on the fact that learners learn a language by using it for a purpose. These purposes may be real purposes in everyday life or purposes created in the classroom. In communicative syllabuses needs of the learners in different situations are considered. And appropriate language for these purposes or situations are learned or taught. For example, one needs to buy some postal stamps. He/she goes to the post office and asks the postmaster for some stamps. For this, he/she needs the language at the setting i.e., at the post office; in other words, he needs the language to perform a communicative function i.e., requesting. In a communicative syllabus thus language functions e.g., requesting etc. or social setting e.g., at a post office etc. can be listed as syllabus inventory. Here one or more grammar items or structures, which can be used for requesting or in this situation, can be listed. Sometimes concepts or notions like place, time, amount or space etc. are also listed in this type of syllabuses. Thus a communicative syllabus may be of any of the following types:

1. Notional or conceptual syllabus, in which notions like time, place, space or part and whole etc, are listed
2. Functional syllabus, in which functions like greeting, requesting, commanding, offering help etc, are listed.
3. Situational or setting based syllabus, in which situations like at the post office, at a dentist's, at a restaurant etc. are listed.
4. Topic based syllabus, in which language points are put under different topics or areas like family, health, environment, hobby etc. which are relevant, appealing and interesting.

3.3.4.4 An eclectic approach: A collaborative balanced syllabus

We have seen that a communicative syllabus can be based on notions, functions, topics or settings. However, it is also possible to combine different focuses in a single syllabus. For example, the notion of time can be taught with the function of asking and giving time, the topic being travel, in a setting of a railway station. It is further possible to make a shift from one syllabus type to anther for the same group of students over a period of time. For instance, it may be that the learners who are following a thematic or topic-based syllabus may require some grammatical knowledge. In such cases, they can use a structural syllabus until they have improved their grammatical knowledge. Now they can use a functional syllabus, leading, finally to a task-based or process oriented syllabus. While making shift from one syllabus type to another, it is always important to address students' need and their reaction. Thus, information by and from the learners is very important. We call this approach an eclectic and collaborative approach. A communicative syllabus is flexible enough to cope with this collaboration.

Topics and themes, language functions and skills, activities, situations or settings, grammar items or structures and vocabulary items can be presented in an electic communicative syllabus in the following manner:

Theme	Topic	Language functions	Skills	Activities	Settings/ situations	Grammar items	Vocabulary
Life style	How others live	Asking and giving information	Listening and speaking	Talking to a tourist, describing places using a map	At a mote, a tourist spot	Present simple tense,  question forms	Verbs and nouns that go together

Table 3.2: A collaborative balanced syllabus

However, all the focuses may not always be listed in the inventory. But a syllabus designed for secondary level students must have the eclecticism so that the teacher can shift the focus from time to time as per students' needs and requirement.

3.3.5 Syllabus layout

A syllabus can take any of the following shapes or formats:

1. The linear format: In this format one language item is presented only once. A structural syllabus often takes this format.
2. The cyclical format: In this format each item reappears once or more with a more difficulty level at each time.
3. Story-line format: In this format a story is divided into units. A thematic unity is maintained within each unit. Language points are taught through continuous story telling technique.

Recurrence of language items is a characteristic of a communicative syllabus whereas thematic unity is also maintained within each unit so that the non-linguistic content of the text does not become meaningless.

3.3.5.1 Selection and grading in communicative syllabus

Selection and grading of syllabus contents vary from one type of syllabus to another. For example, in a subject-centred syllabus the selection and grading is based on the internal structure of the language. In a student-centred syllabus, on the other hand, selection and grading are done in terms of students' needs.

3.3.5.1.1 Selection and grading of language structures

In a structural syllabus language structures are graded in terms of difficulty. For instance, one grading may be as follows:

1. S + V : NP +VP
2. S + V + O/C: NP + VP + NP
3. S + V + Adverbial: NP + VP + NP/PP

In a communicative model, while grading language structures, besides the structural complexity, frequency of the use of the structures (i.e., how often a structure is used) and the usefulness of the structures are also considered. And no structure is to be taught here for its own bias. Rather they are used as to convey meaning and function.

3.3.5.1.2 Selecting and grading of language functions

Language functions can be listed in any order. However, esp. in ESP (English for Specific Purpose) courses language functions are ordered in terms of learners' needs (i.e., whether or not the learners immediately need the function for communication), coverage (i.e., whether the function covers all predictable situations or not) and interest (i.e., whether or not the learners feel that they will immediately be beneficial from the function).

3.3.5.1.3 Ordering structures within functions

Different structures can be used for a single function. So, these structures should be ordered in a sequence that would be easier for the learners to acquire. Usually those which the learners can handle comparatively easily are introduced first. The frequency of use is also considered. For example, to teach the elementary and intermediate level students how to apologise the following order can be followed:

1. Excuse me.
2. (I'm) sorry
3. (I beg your) pardon sir
4. I'm afraid (and so on.)

3.3.5.1.4 Selection and grading of topics

Grading in topic-based or setting based syllabuses is similar to that of function-based syllabuses. That is, they can be listed in any order. Usually, different topics are listed, the ultimate aim being the use of language thematically related to these topics. Here, students' needs, interest and whether they are relevant for them are considered. Thus, topics like 'Hello, people of the world' or 'Leaving home' (a father talks with a daughter) can be listed under the thematic area 'People' (see for example, the contents of John and Liz Soars' Headway student's book (pre-intermediate).

3.3.5.1.5 Designing and grading tasks

In communicative language teaching the difference between syllabus and methodology has become unimportant. It is now how rather than what it is that is more important. That is, what activities constitute teaching is the prime concern. So, the syllabus designer's task is to design or select relevant and suitable tasks of different types and grade them in a useful and helpful order. However, all tasks are not communicative. Some sorts of translation and grammatical exercise may result in meaningless manipulation of students' effort. A good grammar exercise is always expected to be both meaningful and communicative. Penny Ur's Grammar Practice Activities (1988) contains a collection of interesting and meaningful communicative tasks. David Nunan (1989a) described communicative task as a piece of classroom work which involve learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. Nunan further says that a task should have the sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right. He proposes the following components of a communicative task:

Figure 3.2: Components of communicative tasks (after David Nunan 1989a)

That is, a communicative task will contain some form of input data, which might be verbal (for example, a dialogue or a reading passage) or non-verbal (for example, a picture sequence). An activity, which sets out what the learner will do in relation to the input, is derived from the input. The task will also have a goal and roles for learners and teachers. It can be characterised as follows:

Goal: Exchanging personal information
Input: Questionnaire on sleeping habits
Activity: i) Reading questionnaire
ii) Asking and answering questions about sleeping habits
Teacher role: Monitor and facilitator
Learner role: Conversational partner
Setting: Classroom/pair work
(From Nunan ibid. p-11)

Different types of tasks are adopted in communicative language classes, the choice depending broadly upon students' needs or purposes for learning the language. An account of task types can be found in Prabhu (1987), Long (1985) and Candlin (1987).

3.4 Different approaches

Over the decades, language teachers and those concerned with language teaching have witnessed the emergence and elaboration of multitudes of methods of language teaching, based on different approaches of selection and gradation of language items, aspects or skills. These approaches were, in turn, based on different theories of learning and language learning. The beliefs of the nature of language and the nature of learning or language learning reflect certain theories of language or linguistics and theories of language behaviour or psycholinguistics. Insights from the psycholinguists helped to look in how much unique and alike are the processes of acquisition and learning of the first and second languages. Again, language is used in a society and the beliefs and knowledge about the nature of language and the nature of language learning are influenced by the findings of sociolinguistics. So, approaches to language learning/teaching reflect not only the theories of language or linguistics but also sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.

With the study of First Language (L1) Acquisition, several theories of Foreign Language Learning (FLL) process have been pronounced, with similar issues being addressed. In fact, comparisons are frequently made with the way children learn their first language, as a means of providing hypotheses to guide foreign language (L2) learning research.

Different theories of language and learning give emphases on different aspects of language and learning respectively. As a result, different approaches come forward. For example, behaviouristic and mentalistic ideas about language learning, which have been evolved respectively from behaviourist and mentalist psychology, gave rise to two extremely opposite approaches to language learning/ teaching. The behaviouristic theories based exclusively on observable behaviour in the description and explanation of learning behaviour, while mentalistic theories based on the structure and mechanisms of the mind for such descriptions and explanations. Behaviouristic ideas about language learning are based mainly on a theory of learning, in which the focus is mainly on the role of behaviour, both verbal and non-verbal. Mentalistic ideas about language learning are based mainly on theoretical linguistic assumptions, in which the focus is on the 'innate capacity' of any child to learn any language.

Behaviouristic and mentalistic ideas about language learning have led researchers to take extreme positions. A recent reaction to these extreme positions is procedural approach to language learning. The procedural approach, while maintaining a mentalistic outlook, exhibits a renewed interest in the structure and function of children's linguistic input. It caused a shift in the discussion of language learning, away from 'innate' versus 'learned' linguistic ability towards the children's 'cognitive capacity' to discover structure in the language used around them and put these discoveries into use. This section will discuss these three approaches to language learning/ teaching and finally look forward for a communicative approach to language learning and teaching.

3.4.1 Behaviourist approach

In behaviourist or connectionist theory of psychology, behaviour is described in terms of 'stimulus (S) response (R)' model. A connection is established between stimulus or stimulus situation and the organism's response to this stimulus or stimulus situation. Behaviourist psychologists give emphasis on behaviour, which can be learned by humans and animals both. Skinner (1957) can be cited as a representative of this approach to learning behaviour. Skinner put rats in a cage with two levers in it. If the rat pressed the first lever, it would get a morsel of bread. Then if it pressed the second lever, it would get its powder thrown over it. After a number of trials the rats systematically pressed the first lever.

Skinner defined the notion of reinforcement. He says if a certain action repeatedly leads to a positive or negative result, the bits of recurrence or non-recurrence will be increased. Skinner speaks of positive reinforcement, if the action recurs more frequently, and of negative reinforcement, if the action does not recur. In literature of psychology, the term reinforcement is often exclusively used for positive reinforcement. From the observation, systematisation and prediction of animal behaviour, Skinner wants to draw conclusion about human behaviour. To him a theory of language should be derived from a general behaviourist learning theory.

Skinner (1957) is a well-known attempt at analysing language behaviour by tracing the factors influencing this behaviour. The factors are described in terms of stimulus and response. Each utterance follows on some sort of verbal or non-verbal stimulus; in the later case, there is a stimulus situation causing somebody to respond with an utterance. Language behaviour can, according to Skinner, only be studied through observation of the world around the language user; that is, through observation of external factors. One important external factor in the language learning process is the frequency with which a certain utterance is used in the child's environment. In the behaviourist view, children imitate the language of their environment to a considerable degree, and imitation is a strong contributing factor in the language learning process. A consequence of this is that a frequency, with which words and structures occur in the language of the environment, will influence the language development of the child. In addition, reinforcement is needed to arrive at a higher level of language proficiency. Parental approval is an important type of reinforcement in the language learning process: when a child produces a grammatically correct utterance, which is understood by its environment, approval from the parents may serve as reinforcement for such an utterance. In this way, the environment encourages the child to produce grammatical utterances. (Crystal 1987: 234, Khan 1998: 38 -40)

The above discussion reveals behaviourist view of first language acquisition. Insights derived from this influenced, to a great extent, second/foreign language leaning and teaching in 1950s and 1960s. Thus, second/foreign language leaning/teaching was seen as a process of 'imitation' and 'reinforcement': learners attempt to copy what they hear, and by regular practice, they establish a set of acceptable habits in the new language. Properties of the L1 are thought to have an influence on the course of L2 learning: learners 'transfer' sounds, structures and usage from one language to the other. Two kinds of 'transfer' have been distinguished. Similarities between the L1 and L2 cause 'positive transfer' while differences between the two cause 'negative transfer', generally known as interference. Positive transfer makes it acceptable to use the L1 habits in the L2 settings. (see Crystal 1987: 372). For example, the assumption that the subject goes before all other units in a positive sentence satisfactorily transfers from Bengali to English. On the other hand, in negative transfer L1 habits cause errors in the L2. For example, 'subject-object-verb' order does not satisfactorily transfer from Bengali to English. An example of typical interference that results from the influence of Bengali reduplication in English is I want some big big mangoes. Problems of interference provide a major source of FLL difficulties. The main aim of behaviourist teaching is thus to form new correct linguistic habits through intensive practice, eliminating interference and errors in the process.

For years behaviourist language learning spelt out that error analyses and contrastive analyses can serve a good deal in the understanding of language learning process.

There are several problems presented in this account of foreign language learning. Imitation does not account for everything that happens in the learning process. Learners always go on creating new sentences, which may not have any similarities with the model sentences they have come across with. Nor does all the errors occur from mother tongue interference. There are certain errors which have no relations with first language of the learners.

H.C. Dulay & M.K Burt (1973) observed 145 Spanish-speaking children aged from 5 to 8 while they were leaning English. Six structures were selected and the error patterns were analysed. The researchers found that only 3% of the errors were due to the mother tongue interference while the majority of the errors (85%, with a further 12% unclear) thought to have resemblance with the errors that appeared in the course of L1 acquisition. So, contrastive analyses, which is a procedure of systematic comparison of the L1 and L2 properties to predict learning difficulties, can explain only a small part of what goes on in foreign language learning process.

3.4.2 Mentalistic approach

Mentalistic theory of language acquisition stems from the generative account of language, where it was intended to discover the mental realities underlying the way people use language. Major distinctions were made between a person's knowledge of rules of language and the actual use of that language in real situations. The first was referred to as 'competence' and the second as 'performance'. Competence was seen as an aspect of general psychological capacity.

This theory also, like other ones, takes into account the beliefs of a psychological theory. Chomsky (1957), in his discussion of Skinner's verbal behaviour, derives the first serious attack on the behaviourist view of language learning and said that human behaviour is considerably more complex than animal behaviour, and a description of language behaviour cannot be just a description of stimuli and responses to these stimuli, rather it primarily has to be the description of the 'innate' ability of the human beings to learn a language. Chomsky discusses Skinner's theoretical concept point by point and argues that language behaviour is specific to human and all humans can acquire it. It could never be explained through animal behaviour. The laboratory experiments cannot lead to a conclusion about any kind of human behaviour, let alone language behaviour.

It was argued that children must have been born with an innate 'capacity' of language development: the human brain is ready to learn language in the sense that when the children are exposed to speech, certain principles of discovering and structuring language automatically begin to operate. A newly born child listens continually the language around it over a period of time, and develops its own grammar. The knowledge of this grammar and the principles of discovering and structuring language together constitute the child's Language Acquisition Device (LAD). The child's LAD is thought of acting like a 'black magic box', illustrated in the diagram below. The child uses its LAD to make sense of the utterances heard around it, deriving from it 'primary linguistic data' hypothesises about the grammar of the language what the sentences are, and how they are constructed. This knowledge is often used to produce sentences, which after a process of 'trial and error', corresponds to those in adult speech: the child has learned a set of generalisations, or rules that govern the way in which sentences are formed. The process of development can be summarised in the following way:

Figure 3.3: Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

There have been different opinions over how best to characterise LAD. Some have argued that LAD provides children with linguistic universals, such as existence of word classes and word order while others posses the view that it provides only general procedures for discovering how language is to be learned. All of its supporters, however, agree that some such notion is needed in order to explain the remarkable speed with which children learn to speak, and the considerable similarity in the way grammatical patterns are acquired across different children and languages.

In the mentalistic approach to foreign language learning, it is believed that learners are credited with 'innate capacity' to learn a foreign language in a creative way, to work out hypotheses about the structure of the foreign language. They construct rule, try them out, and alter them if they prove to be inadequate. Language learning in this account proceeds in series of transitional stages, as learners acquire more knowledge of L2. At each stage they are in control of a system of language, which is equivalent to neither L1 nor L2; Selinker (1972) calls this language an interlanguage. Errors, in this account, provide positive evidence about the nature of language learning process, as learners gradually work out what the foreign language system is. For example, errors like I goed may result from faulty generalisation about past tense morpheme, which will disappear gradually as the learner goes on discovering more facts about L2.

3.4.3 Cognitive approach

The debate between the mentalists and the behaviourists about whether language is 'innate' or 'learned' comes to an end with the advent of cognitive approach to language acquisition. In fact, cognitive approach, which stems from cognitive psychology, bridges the gap between the earlier two approaches. Cognitive psychologist Jean Pigate (1896 -1980) gave a model of cognitive development of children, where he proposed that there are certain stages in their cognitive development. According to this approach, language acquisition must be viewed within the context of children's intellectual development. Linguistic structures will emerge only if there is an already established cognitive foundation for example, before the children can use structures of comparison e.g., this car is bigger than that car, they need first to develop the ability to make relative judgement about size.

Though it still remains problematic to relate a child's specific cognitive development to specific linguistic features, the interaction between the internal and external factors in the process of language development became central in this approach. Some researchers (e.g., van Els et al 1987), however, argue that the starting point in this approach is still a mentalistic one. It is argued that children use their cognitive capacity to discover structure of the language used around them. Both children's comprehension and production skills are seen as a continuously expanding and changing system of discovery procedures. Such a procedural approach can be represented as follows:

Figure 3.4: The input/output system in language development

3.4.4 Communicative approach

Communicative approach to language learning and teaching stems from Dell Hymes' use of the term communicative competence. Since the first coinage of the term competence in Chomsky (1957) there has been debate over how to define the term. So, before going to the detail discussion of communicative methodology, it will be better to recall how the view of communicative competence developed.

Throughout the history of language teaching, the central question of concern was how to define proficiency in a second or foreign language. In traditional approaches to language teaching, the degree of proficiency that a learner achieves is described in terms of his mastery of 'structures' - that is of phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon of the target language - a certain amount of grammar, and a certain number of words.

Although all the sounds and structures are attempted, a number of sounds and grammatical items etc. are usually specified in advance of a course of study. The specification can vary widely from course to course. Learners may also vary widely in the degree of mastery of structures they attain. But this kind of knowledge is not adequate for those students who want to learn a language in order to make use of it rather than to know about it. It is a common place of cognisance now that languages are learned so that people can communicate and communication involves more than the structures.

3.4.4.1 Proficiency in a second or foreign language

To describe what constitutes the proficiency in a second or foreign language, this section starts from Chomsky's early work especially his distinction between linguistic competence and linguistic performance. On the coarse, it will discuss the reactions towards it that came from anthropologists, philosophers and other linguists.

Chomsky made a distinction between linguistic competence (i.e., what the speaker knows) and linguistic performance (i.e., what the speaker does i.e., says or writes, at any time). For him, concept of competence and performance is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech community. His ideal speaker-listener knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shift of attention and interest, and errors in applying this knowledge of the language in actual performance (Chomsky 1965: 3).

Chomsky's use of the terms 'ideal speaker-listener', 'homogeneous speech community', limits the field of investigation of linguists. Chomsky described as performance a number of factors that should be handled in terms of competence (see Munby 1978, 11th print 1997: 9). Hymes, Habermas, Jacobovits, Campbell and Wales, Cooper and others, all reject Chomsky's restricted view of competence.

Habermas says that in order to participate in normal discourse, the speaker must have in addition to his linguistic competence basic qualification of speech and of symbolic interaction at his disposal, which we may call 'communicative competence' (Habermas 1970, see in Munby 1978, 11th print 1997: 11).

Dell Hymes claims that Chomsky's category of competence does not provide any place for competency for language use neither does his category of performance, despite his equation of language use with performance. Hymes defined competence in a different way. It included interactional or communicative Competence. His theory of language is a theory of language users and theory of language use. It recognises that language users make four kind of judgements as they use it. While Chomsky's theory includes judgements of grammaticality and acceptability to the native speaker, Hymes' theory includes judgements of possibility, feasibility, appropriateness and actual performance. For him, a sentence may, thus, be grammatical, awkward, tactful and rare or grammatical, easily understood, insulting and frequent and so on. Grammaticality in Hymes' model is only one of the four sectors of communicative competence, in Chomsky's model grammaticality was competence (Hymes 1972: 278; see also Yalden 1991: 17 and Munby 1997: 15).

Like Hymes, Halliday also criticised Chomsky's view of organisation of language as only grammatical rules linking with referential meaning. While Hymes is concerned with Language in use, Halliday is interested in language in its social context, and in the way language functions are realised in speech. For Hymes, 'there are certain rules of use, without which rules of grammar would be useless' (Hymes 1971). For Halliday, 'the study of language in relation to society in which it is used to situation types, i.e., the study of language as 'text' is a theoretical pursuit, no less important and central to linguistics than psycholinguistic investigations relating the structure of language to the structure of human brain.' (Halliday 1970: 175).

Hymes and Halliday both deal differently with Chomsky's competence -performance distinction but affect the concept of proficiency in language by adding to it the dimension of social appropriateness or social context. Although there are other influences on language use and proficiency in language use, Hymes' concept of communicative competence have been particularly useful in applied linguistics and language teaching. It affects deeply the notion of what should be or can be taught and what sort of preparation and responsibility the teacher should have.

Cooper reinforces Hymes' point that effective communication requires more than linguistic competence. For effective communication, speakers need to know not only how to produce any and all grammatical utterances of a language but also how to use them appropriately, i.e., what to say with whom, when and where. Cooper (1968) suggests two grammars or sets of rules the speaker's linguistic and communicative or contextual competencies as comprising two components of communicative competence. With reference to proficiency testing in a second language, Cooper says that one cannot assume that information gained from testing one will necessarily tell us anything about the other (see in Munby: ibid. 17). Deriving from Gumperz (1964), Cooper further points out that the social situation in which the speaker use the second language may require more than one variety of the language, i.e., he will need to have verbal repertoire from which he can select appropriately.

Widdowson distinguishes communicative competence i.e., the rules of use in particular social situations from speaker's grammatical competence, i.e., the rules of grammar and says that both are components of speaker's competence (Widdowson 1971 and 1975). Widdowson takes into account the cultural diversity and says that to the learners outside the European cultural tradition rules of use need to be carefully taught, which means, among other things, giving sufficient attention to communicative competence as it is given to grammatical competence. Canale and Swain (1980) says that there are four components of communicative competence; these are grammatical competence or the mastery of language code, scolinguistic competence or the appropriateness of utterance with respect both to form and meaning, discourse competence or the mastery of how to combine form and meaning to achieve text, and strategic competence or the mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies. In Bachman and Palmer's theorisation, communicative competence comprises of grammatical competence, pragmatic competence and sociolinguistic competence. (Quoted in Yalden 1991: 23 from L.F. Bachman and A.S. Palmer, "The construct of validation of some components of communicative proficiency," TESOL Quarterly 16/4, p-451).

The above discussion reveals that in developing the concept of communicative competence contributed scholars from various disciplines including linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociophilosphy, sociosemantics and discourse analysis. Although linguistics has been the starting venue of the concept of communicative competence, all the linguists have not shown equal alliance to it. Some linguists work more closely with problems of language development than others. They are traditionally called applied linguists.

Despite the attempts to define different components of communicative competence, there still have been problems of categorisation of some factors and of how different components interact with one another. Yalden (1991:23) in this regard states that in some definitions of communicative competence there is confusion - or at least - among the categories of factors being considered for inclusion. For some, communicative equals to functional while for others it is oral and for yet some others it entails the actual use of language. Some may interpret it as a radical departure from grammar and translation teaching while some others write books on communicative translation (Allan Duff/Translation) or Communicative Grammar (Leech et al/A Communicative Grammar of English).

3.5 The NCTB curriculum for English (secondary level)

Aims stated:

The new curriculum has been so developed as to provide communicative syllabus for the teaching and learning of English at the Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. The document aims to provide clear and comprehensive guidelines for the textbook writers, teachers, students and those who are concerned with the teaching and learning of English from classes 6 to 12.

It has been felt that a change is to be brought about in English teaching, particularly in the methodology of English language teaching.

Syllabus content:

For decades or more English has been taught as a content-based subject like mathematics or science and so on. But it is not a content-based subject; it is a skill-based subject. English is not about any particular subject but it is rather about practising something - listening, speaking, reading and writing. Of coarse, while practising these, students do not do these in a vacuum. Rather they speak, read or write about something. Topics, therefore, have been included in the curriculum, but they are not important in themselves. They have been so treated as to work as necessary vehicles for the practice of four language skills.

Methodology:

The document states that English is about practising language skills. So the English language classroom should be an interactive one, where students will practise English with teachers and other students. The document emphasises on making such an environment that will help the learners acquire English through constant and regular practice.

Textbooks and teaching materials:

The new curriculum also necessitates many new things. Some of these are suitable communicative language materials, which will enable teachers to reactivate their classes.

Examination system:

The necessity of developing appropriate examination system has also been spelt out. Such examinations test learners' language skills rather than their power of memorisation of the textbooks (or even worse the notebooks or guidebooks) without understanding.

To sum up, the present curriculum aims to

- provide communicative syllabus
- provide clear and comprehensive guidelines for textbook writers, teachers, students and those who are concerned with the teaching and learning of English at secondary level in Bangladesh
- bring about changes in syllabus content, textbooks and teaching materials, and teaching methodology
- create appropriate classroom environment, which will help learners acquire English
- devise appropriate examination system in order to test students' language skills.

3.5.1 Syllabus checklist

3.5.1.1 Objectives set out

The English language syllabus focuses on four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. These are to be carried out through learner-centred activities within communicative contexts. Such contexts should reflect the real life situations outside classroom. Moreover, these should be relevant, interesting and enjoyable.

The document addresses and recognises the students' existing communicative competence - that is what they have learnt in the primary level. It recommends the revision of the previous work and extension of the four skills.

At Junior Secondary level, it aims to ensure that students enjoy while acquiring English and are able to use it effectively in real situations outside the classroom. Students will obtain an elementary to intermediate communicative competence at this stage.

At Secondary level, the present curriculum aims that the students will acquire an intermediate command of the four skills.

The National Curriculum recognises English as essential work-oriented skill that is needed if the employment, development and educational needs of the country are to be met.

It has been observed that some students leave school as early as they complete Junior Secondary or Secondary education, while some others proceed through the Junior Secondary up to Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. Whether they leave school to take up a vocation or continue studies, they need to use English. So, English should be taught as something to be used rather something to be talked about.

Especially those students who progress through Higher Secondary to Tertiary levels need an advanced level proficiency of reading and writing skills.

The document suggests that at Higher Secondary level students should be given more intensive and extensive reading tasks and various types of appropriate writing tasks.

Comprehension skills should be continued focusing on finding, processing and re-expressing information with emphasis on language rather than literature.

3.5.1.2 Class-wise competencies in terms of four skills

At each stage of Secondary education a level of proficiency is expected to be obtained. Objectives are set out for a more advanced level of proficiency at each higher stage. Specific objectives of English language teaching and learning have been spelt out in terms of four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, the syllabus suggests that the four skills should be so integrated as it happens in real life communication. The syllabus aims to facilitate the teaching and learning of English with a methodology that will encourage the learners to acquire communicative competence in English through regular practice of these skills in the classroom. Such a methodology is student-centred rather than teacher-centred and is characterised by lively student participation, esp., in pairs and groups. (National Curriculum Document, Report 2nd volume 1995 English Syllabuses for Junior Secondary (3.1, 4.1, 5.1), Secondary (3.1) and Higher Secondary (3.1) Levels). The following paragraphs projects the gradual development of class-wise competencies in terms of four skills as it is intended in the national curricula.

3.5.1.2.1 Speaking skill

In speaking, class 6 students are intended to be able to

1. give instructions and commands
2. participate in short and simple conversations
3. recount a series of events
4. describe people, objects etc.
5. recite simple poetry with understanding
6. speak intelligibly in clear, correct English appropriate to the situation.

The statement of intent about speaking sub-skills for class 7 students remains same as that for class 6 students.

Class 8 students, however, are expected to obtain a advanced level of proficiency. They should be able to tell simple narrative and descriptive stories and talk about themselves. They have to acquire these speaking sub-skills in addition to those they should have acquired in classes 6 and 7.

In class 9 and 10, students are expected to attain a yet advanced proficiency. Here students are intended to be able to:

1. give a series of instructions and commands
2. initiate and participate in conversations at an advanced level on variety of topics
3. express opinions clearly and logically
4. participate actively in debates
5. tell narrative and descriptive stories and talk interestingly about themselves
6. recite poetry with understanding

These are in addition to those obtained in the previous stage i.e., in Junior Secondary level.

3.5.1.2.2 Listening skill

In listening, class 6 students are expected to be able to

1. comprehend instructions and commands
2. participate in short and simple conversations
3. understand text of appropriate length and varied types: (i) narrative, (ii) descriptive, (ii) simple poetry
4. listen to simple passage (i) for gist, (ii) for specific information (ii) in order to take simple dictation
5. distinguish between the sounds of English and recognise intonation patterns of statement and questions within appropriate contexts.

The statement of intent about listening sub-skills for class 7 and 8- students remains same as that for class 6 students. However, objectives set out for class 9 and 10 include listening sub-skills at an advanced level. Here the students will

1. comprehend a series of instructions and commands
2. participate in conversations discussions at an appropriately advanced level on variety of topics
3. understand argumentative and authentic texts; these may include radio and television announcements, suitable literary texts etc.
4. recognise stress and intonation patterns.

These are in addition to those obtained at the Junior Secondary classes. Listening sub-skills spelt out for class 10 are same as those spelt out for class 9.

3.5.1.2.3 Reading

Silent reading is recommended for all classes from 6 to 10. Reading skill objectives set out for class 6 and 7 are same, though they are mentioned in separate sub-sections. Students at these levels are intended to be able to

1. comprehend written instructions, narrative and descriptive texts and simple poems
2. look up words in simple dictionaries
3. infer meaning or words from their contexts
4. begin (in class 6) and continue (in class 7) extensive reading using their 'Supplementary Readers'
5. recognise the functions of different punctuation marks.

Reading skill objectives set out for class for class 8 include sub-skills at an advanced level. Here in addition to the reading mentioned above students are intended to be able to

1. read and understand, in addition those mentioned for class 6 and 7, informal letters and newspaper texts.
2. use such simple written reference sources as indexes, table of contents and dictionaries
3. read extensively with appropriate speed
4. skim, scan, recognise topic sentences, recognise cohesive devices
5. recognise graphological devices

In class 9 and 10, students are intended to acquire reading sub-skills at a yet advanced level. These include among others the following:

1. understand argumentative texts, formal and informal letters and suitable literary texts
2. use general reference works related to subjects of study at this level
3. distinguish fact from opinion, detect appropriate inferential meaning and draw appropriate conclusion

3.5.1.2.4 Writing skill

The following objectives will be realised in class 6 in clear, legible handwriting. In this class students should be able to:

1. write simple (i) instructions (ii) narrative, (iii) descriptions and (iv) informal letter
2. plan and organise the above task adequately
3. take simple notes and dictations
4. use different punctuation and graphological devices appropriately.

In class 7 and 8, students will acquire a writing proficiency at an advanced level. In addition to the above writing sub-skills they will use linking words and reference words appropriately.

In class 9 and 10, students are intended to acquire a writing skill at a yet advanced level. In addition to the above sub-skills, they are expected to be able to:

1. write formal and informal letters, including job applications, reports, clear argument, summaries and dialogues.
2. demonstrate imagination and creativity in appropriate written forms.
3. fill in forms and write curriculum vitae.
4. plan and organise the above tasks appropriately so as to communicate ideas and facts clearly, accurately and with relevance to the topic.
5. use such cohesive devices as linking words and reference words appropriately.

3.5.1.2.5 Integration of the four skills

Although all four skills are mentioned separately, the integration of these skills lie on the following observations:

• (Giving and understanding of) instructions are included in all skills.
• In both comprehension skills (i.e., listening and reading skills) the following are included:
  1. comprehension of instructions ( written or spoken)
  2. narrative and descriptive texts/discourses
  3. simple poems
  4. recognition of intonation patterns (in listening)/ punctuation marks (in reading)
• in both productive skills (i.e., speaking and writing) students should be able to give instructions and express intelligibly.
• in both motor skills (reading and writing) students recognise and use different punctuation marks; recognise the significant of (reading) and use (writing) such cohesive devices as linking words and reference words appropriately, understand (reading) and write (writing) narrative, descriptive and argumentative texts, formal and informal letters and reports.

In fact, while practising speaking, students involve listening and the vice versa. Listening and speaking, thus, go hand in hand in conversation practice, in giving and understanding instructions and commands, in recitation of poems etc.

A good array of different sub-skills has been mentioned in this syllabus in order that learners can develop all four skills. Extensive reading (e.g., using supplementary readers), intelligible speaking and planning and organising suitable speaking and writing tasks have been recommended for every class.

However, as the four skills are of different modes - two (listening and speaking) skills are auditory-vocal and the two others (reading and writing) are visual, the activities used for carrying out teaching and learning of these skills vary considerably in some instances. Despite, all activities are so designed as to facilitate learning language skills.

3.5.1.3 Syllabus contents

The syllabus contents include structures, topics/themes, vocabulary, numbers, handwriting, poems and dialogue and Drama.

3.5.1.3.1 Structures and functions

The document states that the structures are so ordered as to facilitate learning. Structures covered in the previous level are revised and new structures are suggested to be recycled as appropriate. However, explicit grammatical analysis is discouraged as it can easily demotivate students, causing loss of both interest and confidence. Structures should be taught implicitly through regular use within realistic contexts. So, it is situations and functions which are to be graded and are intended to place structures within communicative contexts.

In ordering structures and function, a structural-functional approach has been adopted. Structures have been sequenced in terms of complexities and frequency of appearance and language functions have been placed within structures. That is, function or use of each structure is to be taught. The following extract from the syllabus of class 10 will make this point clear (Extract from NCTB syllabus for class 10):

1. Further uses of may/ might/ should & ought to. With the function of expressing possibility and obligation. Example: 1. You might like to lean French. 2. If you do you ought to buy a good dictionary.
2. Use of though/although + clause. With the function of talking about contrasting but related circumstances. Example: 1. Although the sea is calm, it might become rough. 2. Even though the sea was calm, no body wanted to swim in it.
3. Use of question tags: can/can't they? do/don't they? With the function of checking or confirming. Example: 1. Tareq can't fly a plane, can he? 2. You do want to eat spaghetti, do you?
4. Use of be + adj. + phrase. With the function of describing capabilities and characteristics. Example: 1. Shanti is good at swimming. 2. Abul is afraid of spider.
5. Use of be + adj. + to + verb. With the function of describing feelings in relation to circumstances. Example: 1. Tareq was happy to see his friend in New York. 2. He was surprised to see such high buildings there.

At each stage, language items taught in the previous stage, it is suggested, should be repeated and every new item should be recycled.

This approach is unlike the ones where structures are ordered within language function. We call this functional-structural approach. In a functional-structural syllabus language functions are selected in any order as learners' needs. For each function possible language structures are selected in terms of frequency of appearance in real communication and ordered in terms of complexity.

3.5.1.3.2 Topics/ themes

The curriculum documents suggests a wide range of topics and themes for each class and states that these topics are suggestive rather than exhaustive. The principle underlying the selection of these topics is that students should start from their familiar environment and culture, and gradually expands towards other people's cultures and societies. It is suggested that these topics should be used as mere vehicles for practising language skills rather than being taught for their own sake. The curriculum emphasises on the appropriateness of the topics. That the topics should be appropriate in relation to students' age, interest and needs. Further these should be of educational value and suit both urban and rural students.

3.5.1.3.3 Vocabulary

A number of new words should be introduced in each class. So far as the document suggests nearly three hundred new words will be introduced in class 6 and another three/four hundred in class 7 and a further three/four hundred in class 8. Further introduction of new vocabulary items as mentioned the National Curriculum is as follows:

Class	Number of new vocabulary to be introduced (approximately)
Class 9	300 - 400
Class 10	600 - 800

Table 3.4: Number of new vocabulary to be introduced in different classes

However, the words should not be presented in isolation. Rather, they will be introduced through suitable texts and meanings of the words should be defined in relation to use within specific contexts. That is the focus should be on contextual meaning rather than the conceptual meaning. Students will discover the meaning from the text itself. Sometimes they may need help from the teacher or need to consult a dictionary. In each case, the meaning should be presented in English. Translation should be discouraged. It can be used only as a checking device, ensuring that the meaning has been correctly understood.

The document suggests that a list of vocabulary should be provided at the back of the teacher's book in alphabetical order together with lesson and page reference. It should not be included in any of the student' textbooks as this may encourage the learners to look up words before having tried to infer meaning from the context.

The document suggests a logical ordering of vocabulary. While introducing new vocabulary items, its suitability and relevance should be carefully thought about. It suggests the inclusion of cardinal and ordinal number as per students' needs and capability to cognise them.

In certain stage some new vocabulary may show up inevitable. The curriculum has suggestions regarding which items should be introduced at which stage. For example, current linking verbs like 'look', 'feel' 'seem' etc. and resulting linking verbs like 'grow', 'fall', 'turn' etc. and relative pronouns 'which' 'what' 'that' and 'what' should be included in class 9 but relative pronouns 'whose', 'who(m)' and 'which + to' should included in class 10.

3.5.1.3.4 Handwriting

Students should write in legible handwriting. The curriculum suggests that the cursive handwriting should be introduced and practised in the primary level and these should be revised and further practised in classes 6 and 7, and there should be no revision in class 8.

3.5.1.3.5 Poetry

Limited use of poems and songs is useful at all levels. The document suggests that this should be mainly for enjoyment and understanding and practice of rhythm and stress. While practising rhythm and stress, memorising can be useful and valid.

3.5.1.3.6 Dialogues and drama

Dialogues and drama activities are considered as one of the most natural and effective ways of practising spoken language within meaningful contexts. The document suggests that the dialogues should be provided in a natural informal speech as far as possible for pair practice. Certain amount of memorisation is suggested for acting out dialogues. Dialogues can also be excerpts of actual plays, but these should be to a limited extent, as memorised dialogues are not communicative in the sense that language is fossilised within situation in such dialogues.

3.5.1.3.7 Values

The present curriculum like any pertinent curriculum seeks to realise the larger goals that are envisaged in the national educational system and reinforce the social, cultural and moral values of the country as a whole. It aims to do this in two ways.

Firstly, language is presented within contexts which are appropriate to the society and culture of Bangladesh and which embody its moral and spiritual values. For this purpose, suitable themes and topics are selected which include traditional stories and fables, which put across the curriculum the moral massage. English language is presented to the students within the contexts which are familiar to the students. They learn the language for their own self-expression, rather than as a foreign language associated with other people and cultures.

Secondly it aims to ensure that essential social values will be learned in most effective way. That is students practise them within real communicative contexts. They will develop a sense of working together in pairs and groups, co-operation, responsibility and independence.

3.5.1.4 Textbooks and teaching aids

The curriculum discourages the use of books like Grammar, Translation and composition or the ones like Functional Grammar, as these are inappropriate for teaching purpose and testing purpose. The curriculum suggests a vivid guidelines and format for textbook writers to write books appropriate for communicative language teaching and learning. It also recommends the use of supplementary workbooks and simplified readers to be supplemented with the main textbooks.

Supplementary books include alongside the simplified readers, a communicative grammar book like English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy (published by Cambridge University Press) or Oxford Practice Grammar by John Eastwood (Published by OUP) for the students and a teacher's book or a teacher's edition of the students textbook with the student's materials and the teacher's guide on the facing pages.

A stimulating atmosphere for language teaching, the curriculum suggests, can be created by displaying posters, charts, maps, advertisements, timetables and signs together with works produced by the students themselves, in the classroom. In fact teaching aids that can be used in language class are enormous and the present curriculum recommends their use, provided that their use will be suitable and appropriate to the students needs.

3.5.1.5 Teaching methodology

In designing the new curriculum, a communicative approach to language teaching has been adopted. However, for developing a communicative curriculum, a syllabus that aims to teach language as a medium of communication is a must. Not only that, teaching a communicative syllabus clings to adopting a communicative methodology. This also involves the use of communicative textbooks and teaching materials.

3.5.1.6 Other components of the curriculum

The present curriculum gives vivid guidelines for textbook writers. These include specification, format, and characteristics of communicative textbooks, examples and characteristics of communicative activities, exercise types and some yardsticks for evaluating communicative textbooks.

In addition to the course book, the present curriculum suggests student's workbooks, communicative reference grammar books, simplified readers, and suitable dictionary to be available for the students.

The curriculum also suggests that a teacher's guide should accompany the student's textbook. A separate guide may be produced based on the textbook. A separate teacher's edition of the textbook may be produced with the teacher's materials and the student's materials on facing pages. However, the curriculum does not recommend that the students will be given a textbook that incorporates teacher's guide, especially as guides will, amongst other things, provide answers to questions.

The curriculum also recommends that audiocassettes should be produced to accompany textbooks in order to help teachers and students with their practice of listening and speaking skills in the classroom.

3.5.2 Syllabus of Madrasah Education Board

For class 6 - 8 Madrasah Education Board does not give any syllabus, in fact. What it does is just give a list of book approved by the board itself. These books are of two categories. On the first category fall English Readers, which are collection of prose and poetry. In the prose section some of the stories are retold from famous native speaker English authors. But most are the main texts of the local writers. Amongst the local writers, however, almost none are the first-rate creative writers of Bangladesh:

On the second category fall traditional grammar books - mainly books of English grammar, translation and compositions, which include essays, paragraphs, personal, letters and letters of application. Sometimes there are options for the teachers to choose appropriate textbooks for their students. These books, of coarse, vary considerably in their nomenclature - for example, there are four grammar book options for class 6. For class 7, there are three options. Some writes name their books 'communicative', while some others 'functional'. However, the internal arrangements of these books are almost same as the traditional grammar, translation and composition books. There are options for English Readers also.

Syllabus for class 9 and 10

This syllabus is based on the format for Dakhil examination question paper. Marks distribution is given in detail. The checklist includes prose, poetry, grammar, letters translation and essay. For prose and poetry, the Madrasah Board has its own publication - Dakhil English Selection. The selection consists of original texts of the native speakers of English language and texts retold from local writers.

In grammar section, the syllabus includes the following:

• appropriate preposition
• pairs of words
• use of right form of verbs
• correction
• change of voice
• change of narration, and
• articles

In Dakhil examination, students have to attempt 3 grammatical questions out of 6, each consisting of 5 marks; write a personal letter or application, which carries 5 marks, and an essay, which carries 10 marks and translate a passage from Bengali into English, which carries 8 marks. Students have to write answers, in a word or in a sentence, of 10 (4 from prose, 4 from poetry and 2 from grammar) objective type questions each carrying 1 mark out of 16 (given 6 from prose, 6 from poetry and 4 from grammar). The rest of the questions are set from prose and poetry.

In the prose section of the textbook, there is a chapter 'Giving direction', which involves some communicative activities. However, as few/no questions are set from this section, in the examination to test students' communicative competence, neither students nor teachers take this section seriously. The above discussion projects that the madrasah students have little scope to practise language skills, as the syllabus itself is not a communicative one.

3.6 Conclusion

This chapter has discussed different components and stages of curriculum development and different approaches to curriculum development. And finally, looked in the existing English language curriculum of Bangladesh. The part on syllabus specification has been discussed in some details. Although some inconsistencies have been found in the levels of planning and syllabus specifications, if it is implemented in a proper way, that is, if communicative textbooks are adopted and teachers adopt a communicative methodology while teaching in the classroom, the ELT scenario of Bangladesh can reach a satisfactory state. However, most of the inconsistencies of the present curriculum lie on the fact that the curriculum guidelines and syllabus checklist produced by the Bangladesh National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) do not reach the teachers and the textbook writers. Even many teachers do not opt to get those guidelines. Many teachers interpret the question patterns and marks distribution provided at the end of set textbooks as syllabus. In most cases, it is the question patterns that determine the syllabus. This leads them to adopt a faulty method of teaching.

CONTENTS PAGE

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CHAPTER 4
LANGUAGE TEACHING THEORIES AND THEIR IMPLICATION: A REVIEW OF ENGLISH TEACHING MATERIALS IN BANGLADESH

4.1 Introduction:

In different types of institutions, different types of teaching materials and textbooks are used. Textbooks used in schools and colleges vary considerably from those used in madrasahs. Books used in English medium schools include foreign tittles, and Technical Education Board has its own publications.  This chapter studies the English textbooks of general education and madrasah education subsystems. 

4.2 The case of textbooks in ELT/L in Bangladesh:

The aims and objectives of teaching and learning English at different levels of education in Bangladesh, as stated in the national curriculum report, are expected to be achieved through various curricular activities. These activities include the following:

1.      Making the infrastructure or the physical facilities such as classroom and teaching aids etc, favourable for English language teaching and learning

2.      Developing or adapting suitable materials such as textbooks and teacher’s guides etc.

3.      Developing appropriate teaching methodology

4.      Developing appropriate evaluation tools and evaluate the success of the programme at its different stages

5.      Having always an open window to bring about necessary changes to make it becoming-appropriate for the times to come on the basis of the feedback received from evaluation results at different stages of the programme, language policy, teachers’ and learners’ needs and development made in other developing and developed countries.

If all these activities are carried out properly, the ELT/L situation in Bangladesh will become a more favourable one. However, of all of these tools and activities, to improve ELT/L textbooks are regarded as the most important one for facilitating teaching and learning of English in Bangladesh. (Haque et al 1997: 73)

In Bangladesh textbooks are produced centrally by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB). From primary through secondary and higher secondary levels all the schools have to use the same sets of books. There are no options at any stage to choose an alternative course book.

On the other hand, in many advanced countries, textbooks are not developed centrally by the government or any semi-government organisations. There are different writers and publishers who write and publish books with different tittles. So, students and teachers in those countries have ample opportunities to choose a tittle from different options available in the market. Teachers in Bangladesh, in fact, have no choice in selecting textbooks for their classes.  Also quality support materials are neither commercially produced nor available for use in schools. To make this situation worse, most teachers are not adequately trained in ELT. As a result, they have to solely depend on textbooks for teaching English.

The students also have hardly any opportunity to use English in their real life. They have hardly any supplementary reading materials to reinforce their knowledge and skills they learn from their textbooks. Textbooks are, therefore, the only means for teaching and learning English. 

So, the English language teaching and learning situation in Bangladesh is an unfavourable one. In such an unfavourable situation, where textbooks are the only materials easily available, they (textbooks) should be so developed as to help both teachers and students with sufficient examples and a variety of materials for practice in communicative use of language. To fulfil this function in Bangladesh situation, a communicative textbook should have the following characteristics:

1.         A clear lesson format should be followed throughout the book. Each lesson should have materials for a class of about 40 to 45 minutes. And clear indication should be given on how the teacher will organise each lesson for a period. In the case of longer lessons or weak or mixed-ability students, the teachers should have freedom to divide or reorganise materials of a lesson for the use of two classes.     

2.         Objectives of each lesson should be clearly mentioned either in the textbook or in the teacher’s guide.

3.         Students will learn English as a vehicle to communicate with others. So, the lessons will be so developed as to provide ample opportunities to practise language skills.

4.         The themes/topics of the lessons should be familiar to the students. They should be interesting and enjoyable too. In each lesson students should have realistic context for language use.

5.         There should be adequate scope of practice in language skills. All four skills should be so integrated as it naturally happens in everyday life. Different types of text and discourse should be included.

6.         Traditional grammar teaching should be avoided. Grammar /structural elements should be presented within contexts/situations provided by the topics/themes. Illustrations of different types like pictures, diagrams, and charts etc. should be used as integral parts of a lesson. They should provide sufficient contexts for language practice — they should not be used just for decorative purposes.

7.         Language used in the textbooks should be natural. That is, the language of the book, whether written or spoken, should resemble the language used in real life.

8.         The language activities should not be merely textbook activities, rather they should be relevant to the real life activities.

9.         The activities should be student-centred rather than teacher-centred with greater emphasis on fluency rather than accuracy.

10.     Each new item, whether it is linguistic or of other type, should be introduced in an appropriate context and they should be repeated in the successive chapters so that the students get sufficient scope to practise them. (cf. Evaluating a communicative textbook in Hoque 1997: 79–80 and see Nunan 1989a: 102)

4.3 ELT/L materials of Bangladesh:

4.3.1 Materials used in general education sub-system:

The English For Today series published by Bangladesh National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) is compulsory for classes from 6 to 12 of general education sub-system, and schools enjoy some freedom in choosing additional or supplementary books for their students. But as the students enter the syllabuses of S.S.C. and H.S.C. Examinations with the English For Today books for classes 9 —10 and 11—12 respectively, at these stages teachings remain mostly textbook i.e., English For Today books oriented. However, throughout all the levels and classes, a supplementary grammar book is used with due importance.

Books used from class 6 to 8 include the following:

1.      English For Today published by NCTB as the textbooks

2.      Supplementary Readers (only a few schools especially, the urban ones include them in the syllabus)

3.      Supplementary grammar book.

Books used in class 9 and 10 include the following:

1.      English For Today published by NCTB as the textbook

2.      Supplementary Grammar book.

Besides the above, some schools include a dictionary in their syllabus checklists.

4.3.2 Materials used in madrasah education subsystem:

Books used in madrasah education sub-system include the following:

For class 6—8, books are of two categories. On the first category fall English Readers, which are collections of prose and poetry. On the second category fall traditional grammar books — mainly books of English grammar, translation and compositions, which include grammar, essays, paragraphs, personal letters and letters of application. The both types of books are published by different private publishers and approved by the Madrasah Education Board.

Sometimes there are options for the teachers to choose textbooks for their students. These books, of coarse, vary considerably in their nomenclature but organisations of different books remain more or less same. For example, there are four grammar book options for class six. For class seven there are three options. Some writers use the nomenclature ‘communicative’ for their books while some others use ‘functional’ etc.. However, the internal arrangements of these books are almost same as the traditional books of grammar, translation and composition.

4.4 Setting yardsticks to evaluate a communicative textbook

Having the above points in mind, the following yardsticks are proposed to evaluate the textbooks used in the two subsystems —general and madrasah education subsystems.

Yardstick 1:      The layout of the book— whether the layout of the book is student-comfortable.

Yardstick 2:      Objectives of lessons— whether the objectives set out for each lesson are vivid.

Yardstick 3:      Opportunities to practise language skills

Yardstick 4:      Whether presentations are not stereotyped and activity boring.

Yardstick 5:      Whether themes/topics are enjoyable and contexts of language realistic.

Yardstick 6:      Whether traditional grammar teaching is avoided and grammar items and functions are integrated with different types of text or discourse.

Yardstick 7:      Whether language used in each lesson is natural and resembles the language used in real life.

Yardstick 8:      Whether the activities are student-centred rather than teacher-centred with greater emphasis on fluency rather than accuracy.

4.4.1 Review of English For Today series:

All students of the general education i.e., most secondary level students use this book as their textbook. This section will look in the English For Today books for classes 6 to 10 and attempt to review them in terms of the yardsticks proposed above.

The new English for today series has been developed by English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) jointly funded by the government of Bangladesh and DFID of the UK Government. The book for class ix was written by three writers, who were trained in the UK and under guidance of a national and an expatriate foreign consultant. The trialling and evaluation of the manuscript have been carried out by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB).

As stated in the prefaces to them, the books follow the communicative approach to the teaching and learning of English in Bangladeshi context. They provide learners with a variety of materials such as reading texts, dialogues, pictures, diagrams, tasks and activities. Learners can practise language skills using these materials. They can actively participate in pair or group or individual work. The book includes a wide range of topics from both national and global contexts. Topics are appropriate and interesting to the learners thematically, culturally and linguistically. Also adequate grammar elements are integrated with language skills so that learners can transfer the elements learned to the real life situations. This opposes the memorisation of discrete grammar items.

Yardstick 1: The layout of the book:

The book consists of units, each unit consisting of lessons. Just after the publisher’s page, it gives chronological list of the topics and themes. After this content page, a book map, which includes thematic area of each unit, topic of each lesson, language skills focused with functions, grammar elements or structures and new vocabulary that appeared in each topic has been given in the book for classes 9 and 10.  

So, language skills, functions, grammar/structures and new vocabulary are presented in an integrated manner. Each lesson of the book has a presentation-practice-production format, which follows a statement of objectives. 

Objectives: clear objectives of each lesson are mentioned at the beginning.

Example:

Objectives: By the end of this lesson you will have —

·        learnt about Becky’s family

·        made a list of activities Becky liked and disliked

·        interviewed a partner about his/her activities and his/her like and dislikes

·        described past habits of a friend

                        (EFT for classes 9 and 10: Unit one: Lesson three)

Presentation: Language items with functions have been presented through meaningful text (written and spoken). Different language skills have been integrated. For this, linguistic as well as paralinguistic means of communication have been used. In Lesson 1 of Unit One of the book for classes 9 and 10, for example, present simple tense with the functions of greetings and introducing are presented through dialogues in bulbs written in a jumbled order and following a series of pictures that will go with the dialogues. Students are asked to match the dialogues with the pictures. Before all these, a picture of Becky along with some other people getting down from an aircraft is presented and students are asked to guess some information about them from the picture. The pictures along with the written texts, which provide a pre-reading task, make the lesson meaningful and natural.

Practice: Each lesson focuses on one or more skills. Skills are always integrated. Before the practice of language skill(s) learners do some pre-skill (i.e., pre-reading or pre-listening) tasks. In the above-mentioned lesson, for example, Becky’s picture with others at the airport and the question ‘what do you see?’ or ‘guess the following information’ give the students a pre-reading task, which will engage them in the learning process.

For language practice, students have to do a variety of activities. These include pair work, group work, working as whole class and solo work. Examples are given below–

 Pair work:

A.           Read the questions given below. Work in pairs and share your personal information.

·        Have you ever been in a foreign country?

·        Do you have any relatives or friends living overseas?

·        Would you like to visit another country? If so, which one and why?

·        What would you do if you visited another country?

      (EFT for classes 9 and 10: Unit Four: Lesson 5: Section A)

Group work:

D.           Work in groups. Write list of rules like the ones above for either school discipline or home security. Write at least five rules for each. One is done for you.

Students should come to school in uniform.

(Lesson 4: Unit Four: EFT for classes 9 and 10)

Solo work:

B.           Replace the underlined word(s) with a word from the brochure with the same meaning. (Notes: Students have already been introduced the brochure in the previous section of the lesson.)

Neela went to both tours. She enjoyed herself very much. The fascinating animals of the Night Safari took her breath away. She saw how the night animals become active after a rest. To know about her surroundings, Neela walked leisurely and could see the tigers and hyenas rejoicing in a kill. The faint lighting had the effect of real jungle at… … … (Lesson 5: Unit Four: EFT for classes 9 and 10)

Controlled and free practice of language:

Some activities involve practice of language skills controlled at varied degrees by the teacher. Some activities, on the other hand, involve more free practice of language skills. Students involve free production of language in some activities. In Sections A, B, C and D of Lesson 1 of Unit Seven of the book English For Today for classes 9 and 10 the students’ activities are teacher-controlled, but the degree of control lessens in each succeeding section. In Section E, thus, students involve in free production of language. The following extracts are from Lesson 1 of Unit Seven:

Extract 1:

A.           Match the pictures of the playing field with their names.

Extract 2:

B.           Ask the following to your partner.

·              Have you ever seen a hockey match?

·              When was the last time you saw a football match?

          etc.

Extract 3:

C.           Look at the following schedule of a TV sports channel and fill in the gap in the passage.

TV GUIDE

4th July 2000

Tuesday

07:30   Fighting Time: World Boxing Championship 08:30   Need for Speed: Motor Cycle Race

09:00   Football focus: Replay of the yesterday’s match  10:30   World Snooker 12:00   Australia vs. Zimbabwe cricket test

1.      Football focus will be telecast at _______.

2.      The cricket match between Australia vs. Zimbabwe will be shown at _______.

      etc.

Extract 4

D.          
The following diagram is about how a goal was made in a match. Describe the process of scoring the goal. You can start like the following.

In some activities like the one in Section E of Lesson 3 of the same unit learners are involved in more free production of language.

Extract 5: 

         Write a short essay of about 200 words on the importance of radio in our lives. Use the clues in the box.

As a means of entertainment
As a means of communication
Different types of programmes
News
Weather Forecast
Educational Programmes
Sports Commentary
Impact on Rural Bangladesh
Your favorite programme

                        (Section E, Lesson 3, Unit Seven/ EFT for classes 9 and 10)

Yardstick 2: Objectives of lessons and teacher’s guide:

Objectives of each lesson have been stated at the beginning. But guidelines for teachers on how to teach the lessons are not given. Neither any guidebook for the teachers has been published. Although the curriculum document admits the necessity of such guidelines and says that such teacher guides will be prepared and published, they are yet to come in light.

Yardstick 3: Opportunities to practise language skills:

The prefaces to the books state that the books provide learners with a variety of materials such as reading texts, dialogues, pictures, diagrams, tasks and activities. These materials have been designed and developed for learners’ practice in four basic skills — listening, speaking, reading and writing. The classes are expected to be interactive with students’ participation in pair work, group work and solo work. Tasks are so designed as to provide students with opportunities so that they can participate in discussion, information gap activity and role-play etc. 

Reading texts and dialogues are on a variety of themes and topics. Pictures and diagrams are not used just for decorative purposes. Rather they are accompanied by a wide range of tasks and activities, which give learners opportunities to practise language skills.

The four skills: The four skills are integrated in different lessons. Listening comprehension passages are provided at the end of the textbooks for classes 6, 7 and 8 and the exercise and activities are given in different lessons throughout the books. The textbook for classes 9 –10 does not include any listening comprehension passage in itself though listening comprehension exercises are given in many lessons. The comprehension passages are likely to be given in the teachers’ books, which is more effective than those given in the students’ textbooks.   

Yardstick 4: Whether the presentations are stereotyped and activity boring:

For making a lesson interesting, new items should be presented in realistic contexts and tasks and activities should be so designed as to provide learners with as many new things as possible to do. For this to happen, it should be ensured that the presentation is not stereotyped. Stereotyped presentation makes lessons uninteresting and activities boring. A look into English For Today for class six reveals that most of the lessons of this book starts with a ‘Look at the picture’ type activity.

Examples:

Section A, Lesson 1, Unit 8: Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task presented with two pictures)

Section A, Lesson 7, Unit 7: Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task presented with a picture and a table)

Section A, Lesson 8, Unit 7: Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task presented with a picture)

Section A, Lesson 9, Unit 7: Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task presented with a picture)

Section A, Lesson 10, Unit 7: Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task presented with a picture)

Section A, Lesson 11, Unit 7: Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task presented with a picture)

Section A, Lesson 12, Unit 7: Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task accompanied by a picture)

Section A, Lesson 10, Unit 7: Talk about the pictures … (a pre-reading task accompanied by two pictures)

Examples cited above show that each of the above lessons starts with a typical activity, i.e., looking at the picture(s). When most lessons start with such types of stereotypical activities, learners as well as the teachers get in difficulty to carry out them. They often feel bore.

The same type of examples of stereotypical presentation can be cited from the book for class 7 and 8.

A.           Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task accompanied by a picture) (Unit 1: Lesson 1:Section 1)

B.           Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task accompanied by a picture) (Unit 1: Lesson 2: Section 1)

C.           Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task accompanied by a picture) (Unit 1: Lesson 3: Section 1)

D.           Talk about the picture … (a pre-reading task accompanied by a picture) (Unit 1: Lesson 4: Section 1)

                        (A –D from English for Today for class 7)

The same type of monotony is observable in the book for class 8. Lessons 1 —7, 9, 10, 11 and 13 of Unit 1 start with the same ‘talk about the picture’ type activities. Although some pictures are considerably different from others in terms of physical contexts, students are not provided with any linguistic context at the beginning. As a result, these may often produce boredom among the pupils and teachers may face difficulty to arousing interest among the learners.

However, the lessons in English For Today for classes 9 and 10 adopt a wide range of techniques in presenting new language. Activities are of different types and are so designed as to favour students’ creative participation. Each lesson in this book starts with different types of task. Students’ role in one lesson varies considerably from another so as to make it interesting for them. The following extracts show how differently each lesson starts:

B.           Read the following information about a woman called Prity. Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions about the information.

         Prity, 40, schoolteacher —— two children, Nina 10, Raju 6, husband -Salam 42, postal clerk.

         e.g.       Q: How old is Prity?

                     A: She is 40/40 years old.                                                           

                     (Section A Lesson 2 Unit 1)

C.        While talking to Masum’s family, Becky told a lot about her own family. The following tree diagram is about Becky’s family Look at the picture. What do you see?

        Works in pairs. Ask and answer the following questions about the family tree.

  1. Who is Mr. John Mable?

  2. Who is Tracy Mable?

         And so on.    (Unit 1: Lesson 3: Section A & B)

D.           Becky was surprised to hear about a New Year celebration in the middle of the year. Later Masum explained it to her. She then read the following newspaper article. First guess and answer the following questions and then read the newspaper article below. (Questions given in bubbles and a newspaper article on ‘Pahela Baishakh today are presented) (Unit 1: Lesson 1: Section A)

The tasks of the above extracts cited from English For Today book for classes 9 and 10 seem to be more interesting and student comfortable than those cited from the textbooks of classes 6, 7 and 8. A close look into the English For Today series reveals that most of the lessons of English For Today books for classes 6, 7 and 8 starts with a ‘look-at the-picture’ type task. These are likely to arouse boredom among the students. This is especially true for the classes where teachers are not trained in communicative language teaching (CLT).  

Yardstick 5: Whether the themes/topics are enjoyable and contexts of language realistic:

In communicative textbooks the topics/ themes though are not introduced for their own sake, rather they are used as vehicles for different activities to take place. For the activities to be carried out successfully and learning outcomes to be achieved, the topics should be realistic and be taken from the learners’ familiar world. Of coarse, the wider world context can be gradually introduced. A wider range of topics should be included so as to cover different spheres of life.

In the English For Today book series, the emphasis has been shifted from literature to language and it is an well-known view that what the learners need more is English language to communicate rather than the English literature. The question, however, still remains, whether it is possible and desirable to separate language from literature in an absolute manner. To try to teach language without the help of literature is doomed to be unattractive and, therefore, ineffective. Ultimately that is what is frequently observable in some of the textbooks. The following examples are cited to illustrate this point:

From English For Today for class 6:

Unit one: Introduction: This unit comprises the tittles — class six, introductions, Sabina, Salam, Guess who, what’s my name is and others. In all these lessons, the focus is on how to introduce, greet, and give personal account. In this unit there is no home for imaginative stories and essays. This can be termed as ‘feeding on a mechanical diet’ to the young learners. The same type of mechanical approach is observable in the lessons ‘My daily life’, ‘Telling time’ ‘At the shop’ and others. Of coarse, there are a few fables and imaginative articles like ‘Do not quarrel’ (unit 2: lessons 11 and 12), ‘Morning in Sherpur’ (unit 7: lesson 5) and ‘The hidden treasure’ (unit 8, lessons 1 and 2). These and some articles on science and daily life definitely bears values and interest for the learners. But most of the lessons with their mechanical presentation of language are likely to bring boredom among teachers as well as students. (cf. Choudhury S.I.: Rethinking the Two Englishes in Alam F. et al (eds.) 2001: p-17)

From English For Today for class 7:

Topics included in the textbook for class 7 are Diaries and Events, The World around Us, Pen Friends, and Working Together. Students are more or less familiar with these topics. But problems lie on the fact that they do not get any new information in these and so, loose interest in them. For example, the following reading text is taken from Lesson 1 of Unit 1. The text follows a picture of Samira and her cousin Karim:

This is Samira. She is twelve years old. She is a student. She lives in a village near Sonapur. At the moment she is sitting under a mango tree in her yard, reading a book. It is a small blue book. Her cousin Karim is also there. He is a student too. He is standing and looking at some flowers in the garden.    

Karim doesn’t live in the country. ……..

This reading text is followed by a task of asking and answering to some wh-questions. This text is suitable to introduce many linguistic items like ‘subject-verb-object’ word order, place and time adverbials etc. and so, the linguistic relevance of this text is undeniable. But problem lies on the fact that most children do not have any new experience in the text. For them the lesson turns boring. 

In the textbook EFT for class 7 also there is little home for any imaginative or creative stories and essays. Of coarse, the extracts of letters (unit 3) and diary events (unit 1) and a few poems and rhymes are definitely interesting and tell many things new to the students. But all the stud