English language teaching practices in secondary schools in Bangladesh: a comparison between urban and rural areas

Abstract

This study explores the current teaching practices of secondary level English language learning in rural and urban areas and compares the differences of teaching methods in both urban and rural settings. The specific focus of the study is on the disparities of the teaching practices, quality, methods, availability of resources and particularly the book selection procedure in both urban and rural schools. In Bangladesh, English is seen as a communication tool with other language people and the English language is an essential part in academic and professional advancement. However, in rural schools, English language learning is facing significant challenges such as traditional teaching practices with limited teaching materials, untrained teachers and their biases driven by commercial benefits make the rural area students less proficient in English than the urban areas’ students. This study investigates the corrupt practices of book selection particularly in MPO- registered rural schools by taking incentives from the publishers that hamper effective English language learning. This study is investigating the different teaching practices of English language learning and teaching in urban and rural schools and providing insights for policymakers to take proper steps for improving English teaching practices and reducing the gap between urban and rural students’ English language proficiency. A qualitative method was used, involving semi-structured interviews with 10 participants from various urban and rural schools to gather real experiences and insights where thematic analysis was done to show different teaching practices and classroom realities. The major findings of this paper are the differences in English language teaching practices in urban and rural areas where rural schools have lack of resources and proper classroom management, corruption in material selection, low implementation of CLT and the impact of corruption in material selection in English language teaching, especially in rural areas’ schools.