Effectiveness of teacher talk in English and Bangla medium schools of Bangladesh : a comparative study

Abstract

This paper compares students’ perceptions on the effectiveness of teacher talk in English and Bangla medium schools of Bangladesh. For this research, a survey was conducted among 113 students and 20 teachers from English and Bangla medium schools. Simultaneously, classes were taken of two focus groups of students coming from English and Bangla medium schools. This research can be an essential model for English and Bangla medium teachers to improve their teacher talk while taking English classes. It is important to note that the findings of this research show that Bangla medium students are inclined to teacher’s guidance and they heavily rely on the importance of the many features of teacher talk. On the contrary, English medium students appear to be autonomous learners as they have little preference for the presence of teacher talk in ELT. Hence, the effectiveness of teacher talk varies according to difference in medium of instruction in schools.