How external standardized language exams and exam prospects affect Bangladeshi students

Abstract

Bangladeshi students who aim to go abroad for higher education often have to give external standardized exams like IELTS, TOEFL, SAT, GMAT and GRE. Such an exam acts as a marker for students’ language proficiency on an international scale, as well as a gatekeeper to foreign universities. However, given Bangladesh’s non-implemented communicative framework in language learning, it is seen that the average Bangladeshi student’s English proficiency is subpar even after they complete their college education which includes about 12 years of English learning. In this paper, I have therefore focused mainly on Bangladeshi students studying under the national curriculum because they often struggle to get good scores in such tests because of the aforementioned flaws in the education system. Hence, students often have to take preparations for months on end before attending these tests. This qualitative research is done by taking extensive interviews of 10 participants through phone calls. Next, from the recorded interviews thematic analysis was done, which yielded the following themes: background and English language exposure, choice of discipline, preparation and results and challenges faced – all of which correlate to challenges and preparation of external standardized exams. Future research is recommended in this field since there is a scarcity of research on standardized language exams in Bangladesh.