Cultural assimilation & attitude of non-native middle school students and adults in Dhaka: a comparative study

Abstract

This research aims to identify and examine the key factors that play a vital role in the cultural assimilation and attitudes of non-native speakers of Bangla at an International school in Dhaka where English is the medium of instruction, and examine the differences in attitude between the non-native adults residing in Dhaka. The identification of the key factors which facilitate cultural assimilation has been uncovered through triangulating personal interviews, semi-structured questionnaires, and focus group discussions, and the results indicate that gradual cultural integration instead of assimilation is taking place in the non-native speakers of Bangla in both the adult and student population, but with striking differences in their attitudes towards certain well established elements that foster cultural assimilation.