Teaching english in rural schools: a case study of three primary schools in Bangladesh

Abstract

This study explored opportunities and difficulties of teaching English in rural primary schools in Bangladesh. Rural schools are lagged behind in many ways than the city schools. Most of the cases there is hardly any modern facilities available in those schools. Moreover, these schools have hardly any trained and qualified English teachers. As a result the condition of English teaching in those schools are very poor. Qualitative research design is used for this study as I wanted to understand the phenomena in depth and it allows me to present a rich picture of English teaching in rural schools. Interviews, classroom observation and focus group discussion are the three instruments of data collection. The significance of this study lies in presenting a rich and detail description of the teaching English in rural schools. Although it may not be appropriate to generalize English teaching in rural areas based on data from three schools, this study provides valuable data of teaching English in rural areas. It also suggested some ways to overcome these barriers. Finally some recommendations were made for different stakeholders so that it helps to improve the teaching and learning situations in the rural primary schools.