A Research Proposal for the Degree of Ph.

Name: Md . Amjad Hossain

Title: Pedagogical Challenges Faced by the Primary Level

English Teachers in Bangladesh

Submitted to
Department of English
Jahangirnagar University
 1. Introduction
English gets great importance in the field of education in Bangladesh as an international
and foreign language. English gets great importance in the field of education in
Bangladesh. It is taught as a mandatory course in every step of education. Currently,
educational system in Bangladesh has four major stages: primary, secondary, higher
secondary and tertiary education. The primary level education consists of 5 years of
formal schooling (class I - V). Children aged 4 to 5 years normally begin education at this
level. This education is normally offered by the government and nongovernment primary
schools. Virtually in all primary education systems, language teaching occupies a
significant place, and more than 50 percent of the time and effort are spent to teach basic
literacy and numeracy (Lockheed & Verspoor, 1991). In the National Education Policy-
2010, the primary curriculum has been revised and emphasis has been given on learning
English for communicating locally and globally. The English text books of this level have
also been developed for the students to learn four language skills through meaningful and
enjoyable activities. However, studies, both national and international, indicate that many
of the primary graduates are failing to learn language skills effectively (Snow et al., 1998;
Ahmed et al., 2005). Studies also identify various causes contributing to this low
acquisition of basic literacy including unavailability of appropriate and adequate
educational materials, trained teachers with modern pedagogic knowledge and adequate
contact hours to foster an intellectual climate (UNESCO, 1996). So, the present study
wants to explore the pedagogical challenges faced by the primary level English teachers
in Bangladesh

2. Statement of the Problem

Though the ministry of education and other educational authorities have already taken
different initiatives to improve the English language teaching and learning condition at
the primary level in Bangladesh, there are so many constraints to the teaching learning
process of English. Specially, teachers face different types of challenges while teaching
English at the primary level in Bangladesh and the students also encounter different
challenges when learning English in the classrooms. Generally, teachers face problems
regarding authentic materials, classroom size and teaching-learning environment,
students’ background knowledge etc. So, it is important to examine the pedagogical
challenges faced by the teachers when teaching English at the primary level. The aim of
this study is to find out the pedagogical challenges faced by the primary level English
teachers in Bangladesh

2. Review of literature
At the primary level in Bangladesh the communicative method is being followed
for teaching and learning English from 1990s . By this time some research works

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 have been done in this field. There are magazines, articles, comments, criticism,
suggestions about this new approach in our country, and to conduct the research
they have become quite helpful for me. The help from the books written in this
context of other countries may come to be very important to know and explore
the process of teaching and learning English at the primary level in our country.
So far the researcher has consulted the following important comprehensive
course books to formulate hypothesis for the proposed research.

Development of Primary Education Policy in Bangladesh by Sharifa Khatun has dealt with
the background of the primary schools in Bangladesh. The author has uphold historical
evidences, education policies from the British period to this modern period. Some
authentic information about teaching English at primary level of Baaaangladesh has
been presented in this book.

Dilruba (2010) did a study on Teaching English at the Primary level in Bangladesh: Present Status, Issues
and Challenges. The study explored the status of English teaching at the primary level in Bangladesh and
identifies the major issues and challenges of teaching English at the primary level in Bangladesh and their
probable solutions. The study showed that each teacher in both government and registered non-government
schools had to take 7-8 classes everyday. The findings of the study also showed that most of the students
are weak in speaking (rural 52% & urban 60%) and listening (rural 26% & urban 24%) skills. The study
strongly recommended providing training to the English teachers and more communicative and
participatory classroom facilities for implementing communicative English language teaching methodology
and assessment system.

Prithvi (2013) conducted a study titled English language classroom practices: Bangladeshi primary school
children’s perceptions. This study reported on a study that examined Bangladeshi primary school learners’
experience of English language class room practices in which technology-enhanced communicative
language teaching activities were promoted through a project called English in Action (EIA). EIA is a
large-scale 9-year long international English language development project in Bangladesh, funded by the
UK government. A semi-structured group interview was conducted with 600 Grade 3 students from
different regions of Bangladesh. The findings showed that the learners found communicative language
learning activities such as dialogue and role play more effective than translation and memorizing grammar
rules for learning English, although they enjoyed reciting and drills. The results also showed that these
learners’ English teachers tended to mix both traditional and communicative approaches in their lessons.
The paper critiques EIA and argues that any major language development project needs to consider the
local context and learners’ views on language learning for its success.

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Milon (2016) conducted a study titled Challenges of Teaching English at the Rural Primary Schools in
Bangladesh: Some Recommendations. The main purpose of the study was to find out the challenges in
teaching –learning English at the Primary level of rural area in Bangladesh. In this study two sets of
questionnaire were used to collect data from the students and the teachers to evaluate the situation of
English language teaching-learning in the primary schools of the rural areas in Bangladesh. Interviews were
also taken from the teachers and English teaching sessions were observed using an observation checklist to
find out the real present scenario of teaching English language at the primary level. The study indicated that
most of the rural schools’ students are weak in English due to lack of skilled and trained teachers, proper
teacher training, using proper teaching methods and materials, limited contact hours, class size, inadequate
knowledge on pedagogy and so on. Some recommendations based on research findings have also been
included in this paper to face those challenges.

Barkhuizen (1998) investigated learner perceptions in the context of English as a second or foreign
language in a South African secondary school. He used a ‘multi-method’ qualitative approach for this study
which included a survey, writing, individual and group interviews and classroom observation, resulting in a
very rich data set. However, regarding the scale, the survey was conducted with 200 students and was
limited to one school. This study showed that the students perceived the ‘mechanical activities’ (grammar,
spelling and punctuation) to be high ranking language learning activities, a finding which surprised their
teachers.

Abara (2016) conducted a study on Teaching English Problems: an Analysis of EFL primary School
Teachers in Kuala Tungkal. The aim of this study was to describe the problems faced by EFL primary
school teachers in teaching English by employing qualitative design research with case study approach.
There were two participants from two different primary schools for this research. They were interviewed to
get the data of this research. The findings of the present study revealed the facts that there were many
problems faced by EFL teachers at primary schools in teaching English. There are three major problems
with the practice of teaching and learning English at the research sites, including lack of students’
motivation (sub-themes; shyness, afraid to make mistakes, and not interested to study), Insufficient time,
resources, and materials (sub-themes; limited time, limited resources, limited facilities, and difficult
materials), and over-crowded English classes (sub-theme: too many students). Besides, some essential

books on English teaching and learning are to be consulted.

3. Justification of the Study

As the primary level is the largest and foremost level of education, it needs to get much
importance from the prospective of research. Real education begins at this level. The
foundation that the students have at this level influence the later phases of education.
Though some research works have already been conducted regarding this field, they are
not sufficient and to the specific point as the current study focus. The central goal of the
study is to explore the real scenario of English Language Teaching at the primary level in

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Bangladesh. It is a matter of great sorrow that most of the primary level students of our
country are unable to use English language in different circumstances. Even most of the
students fail to communicate in English after passing PSC examination. So, the students
of the primary schools should be at center of concentration of educational authority

Again, this study carries significance because it will give us significant insights about the
different issues in teaching English at the primary level. The study has immense
possibility to offer teachers with key insights about the usefulness of different techniques
for teaching all the skills of a new language. Furthermore, teachers and learners will get
chance to explore their insight through this study. Moreover, findings from the study
would also be an excellent source of track for course developers to promote teaching in
all major areas which are involved in teaching a second language including setting
objectives, materials, methods, evaluations, and environment and so on. This study would
be a chance to promote thoughts about teaching. This research work will open other
probable doors for further necessary study in this field.
4. Objectives
The aim of the present study titled “Pedagogical Challenges Faced by the Primary Level
English Teachers in Bangladesh” is to identify the problems which English teachers face
while teaching at primary level and focus the considerations analysing the answers of the
questionnaires, in-depth interviews and classroom observations. It is important to sketch
out the real situation of teaching and learning English at the primary level in Bangladesh
that the teachers and the students face. The objectives of the study are divided into two
parts.
4.1 General Objective
To find out the pedagogical challenges in teaching English at the primary level in
Bangladesh.
4.2 Specific Objectives
1. To outline a real picture of teaching and learning English language at the primary level
in Bangladesh.\

2. To investigate the problems teachers face while teaching English at the primary level.
3. To investigate the problems students encounter while learning English at the primary
level
4. To examine whether the examinations influence teaching and learning English
language at the primary level.
5. To propose research-based suggestions and recommendations for the teachers, students
and for the other stakeholders.
5. Research Questions
Teaching English to the students of primary level is a major concern in
Bangladesh. It is not very easy to teach English effectively such a large community. The
teachers teaching English at the primary level also have to face some challenges to teach
the students in class room. The present study is designed to explore and identify the real
picture of the teaching English at the primary level of our country including curriculum,
text and other materials, assessment system, classroom activities and above all the
English teachers’ experience in the class room. Based on the topic of the study, the
following research questions are designed to complete the research:

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1. To what extent is English language taught at the primary level in Bangladesh?
2. What problems do the teachers face in teaching English language to the students at the
primary level?
3. What problems do the primary level students face while learning English language?
4. How relevant and sufficient are the materials for teaching English at the primary level?

6. Scope of the Research:

This research will include both the rural and urban primary schools. The papers published
on primary English teaching will be considered as the source of materials for the study.
Already government and non-government organizations have published ample reports,
articles; books etc. and they will come to help for this research work. Besides, the people
concerned to primary education will be met to collect the authentic information regarding
primary level English teaching, and challenges faced by the English teachers.
7. Limitations of the Study
A study may have some kinds of limitations which are the flaws of a study. The present
study has also a number of limitations as well. This research is limited to a number of
primary schools of different areas due to time constraints. Even it is almost impossible
to get in and reach all primary schools and it will be also a difficult to take time for
interview from the teachers concerned of different schools. So, the study may have faced
some limitations and shortcomings regarding unavailability of necessary data,
information, literature and other relevant materials. To sum up the limitation it can be
said that the study represents only primary school students of class -V . Because at this
level the learners attain some sort of ability to understand what they are assigned to study.
It is impossible to select large number of primary schools from every location of
Bangladesh. So the schools will be selected from only Dhaka division. At least 30
schools both from rural and urban areas will be chosen. Besides, the study has made no
variable in the analysis of the findings in respect of gender, geographical region, and
social condition.
8. Research Methodology
The Mixed Method (MM) approach is deemed an appropriate avenue for the present
study. This approach can be chosen based on three aspects of the study: the type of
problem to be addressed, the goal of the study, and the nature of the data. The present
researcher has combined aspects of quantitative and qualitative methods in the stages of

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data collection and data analysis. Qualitative data collection mainly involves in-depth
interviews, classroom observations. The quantitative data collection is to be consisted of
the completion of a teacher questionnaire. The researcher is also going to analyse the
English language textbook, English language curriculum at the primary level,
examination related documents etc.
8.1 Participants
Random samples have strongly been preferred by the researcher for the present
study, as random samples permit all populations having the same chance to be selected,
and calculated in a study. Morris (1996) suggests that the advantage of random sampling
is that it is easy to apply when a big population is involved (p.17). Robert (1997) opines
that random sampling is inexpensive and less troublesome (p.103). Like the previous
studies regarding the present arena of research in different countries and contexts, the
samples of the present study have consisted of teachers, students, and some other
stakeholders (examiners, policy makers and the curriculum specialists). The researcher is
going to select 30 schools located at different districts of Dhaka division. From those
schools at least 30 teachers will be selected for questionnaire survey. The researcher will
also observe 10 classes of those 30 teachers. After the classroom observation, the
researcher will conduct in-depth interview for the same 10 teachers whose classrooms
will be observed. The researcher will also conduct in-depth interviews with 10 primary
level students in every observed class and 10 stakeholders of different government
institutions. It is notable that the respondents will have been selected from the
government (50%) and non-government (50%) primary schools.
8.2 Instrumentation
A good number of previous studies elicited data employing questionnaires,
interviews, testing measures and classroom observations (e. g. Wall and Alderson, 1996;
Herman & Golan, 1991). In keeping with the general approach outlined above, several
instruments have been used in the present study. The present researcher has applied
mixed methods research (MMR) approach combining aspects of quantitative and
qualitative methods in the stages of data collection and data analysis. The present
researcher has preferred to use in-depth interviews for the teachers, students and the other
stakeholders, classroom observations and analysis of examination related material to

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elicit qualitative data, and conduct a questionnaire survey for the teachers to obtain
quantitative data.
8.3 Data Analysis
The researcher has preferred a mixed methods (MM) approach combining the
qualitative and quantitative methods to be used both for data collection and data analysis
in this study. According to Bogdan and Biken (1998), data analysis is the process of
bringing order, structure, and meaning to the mass of collected data. While analyzing the
data of the present study, firstly, a close examination of the pertinent documents has been
performed.
8.3.1 Qualitative Data Analysis
Qualitative analyses of the classroom observation data as well as the in-depth
interview data are to be conducted. The analysis will involve the use of the constant
comparative method (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998; Glasser and Strauss, 1990; Lincoln &
Guba, 1985) in which the data will have been classified into categories.
8.3.2 Quantitative Data Analysis
The questionnaire survey data are to be analysed in multiple ways. Descriptive statistics,
inferential statistics, tables, charts, and graphs will be applied to clarify and explain the
analysis. Survey results can be presented in different ways: by text, in tables, in figures in
charts, graphs and histograms. Tables and figures are useful methods to convey data when the
reader or viewer is required to take in information while reading or listening. The tables and
graphs can describe larger sets of numbers better than text, and should be used if trying to
communicate more than three or four numbers. The computer program Statistical Package of
the Social Sciences (SPSS, 20.0) for Windows will be used to compute descriptive statistics
and perform inferential statistics.
9. Tentative Structure of the Chapters
The research paper might consist of six chapters as follows:
The first chapter, introduction, will consist of the background of the study, statement of
the problem, objective of the study, justification of the study, research questions, outline
of the thesis and the limitations of the study.
The second chapter Second chapter might cover both the theoretical and conceptual
framework of the research.

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The third chapter will provide a detailed literature review allowing to situate the current
study in theoretical frame and previous researches according to the context of primary
level of Bangladesh.
Chapter four will address the methodological issues regarding information about the
participants, the measures/instruments (interview, observation and questionnaire) utilized
to collect the data, information about the data analysis as well as the ethical
considerations are provided.
Chapter Five will present the results dealing with the detailed discussion of the
questionnaire results, results found from the teachers by conducting interviews and the
detailed description of classroom observations.
Chapter six will express concluding statement and the implications based on the results
obtained in this study. At the end of the thesis, references and some appendixes will be
placed.
10. Time Frame
July-December 2019 preparation of the questionnaire for the learners, teachers, class
room check list and selection of the schools on which the research will be done is te
estimated time in the first phase. Analysis on the collected data or information is to be
completed by July 2020. A draft copy is to be prepared by December 2020. The
synopsis of the research paper may be submitted for the approval of the first seminar to
the Institute of Education and Research with the consent of the Supervisor. The
researcher wants to submit the thesis for Ph.D degree by April 2021.
11. Conclusion
The way in which English has been being taught in different educational level in
Bangladesh remains dissatisfactory to all. The low standard of English in the country has
always been a matter of concern to all language learners and teachers. In recent years
after the emergence of ELT as an academic field the progress is remarkable. Though
English is taught as a mandatory subject at the primary level in Bangladesh but the
outcome is not up to the mark yet. So, the study is potentially significant in that it will
offer educators and policy makers insights into English language teaching and learning at
the primary level in Bangladesh. Most importantly, it will highlight the voices of teachers
and students, the very important people at the centre of the teaching and learning process.

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