Parental involvement in English language learning in rural areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

This study explored how rural Bangladesh parents involve in English learning journey of their children. Effective English skills have great significance to success in advanced learning and better employment opportunity throughout the world. However, it is difficult to impart English as skillfully in Bangladesh's underprivileged village environments. This is because most parents themselves do not have much institutional education; they lack financial stability, and they simply do not understand how to assist their children with a comparatively complex subject like English. The main objective of this research was to explore factors that stand against for parents to engage in their children’s education particularly in case of English. While many studies point out the importance of parental help in general, there are not so many that have been focused on how they help with a foreign language such as English, which most parents are themselves unable to speak or even understand. An in-depth, qualitative research approach was used for this study which involved conducting twelve interviews with parents whose children are enrolled in secondary school (high school) in semi-urban and rural Bangladesh. Specifically, they were asked regarding the types of help they provide, difficulties they encounter in engaging in their children’s education, their individual ideas and perception about English, and the steps they would aspire to take with an aim to help their children. Findings show that parents help in many ways mainly based on their own educational background. Parents with limited or no formal education mostly helped by making sure children finished homework, reading to them, and giving overall encouragement. They most often reported that they could not do anything else as they had a "lack of knowledge" or were "illiterate" in English. Parents who had attended secondary school, however, were able to give more direct academic support, to help with grammar and spelling errors. In short, the study highlights the fact that while parents really do believe English is essential in their children's future lives, their ability to help is greatly negated by their own ability and lack of proper guidance or materials where they live. These results are important for educators and education policy makers because they imply the value of uncomplicated, focused, and practical parent participation programs that can have an impact on enhancing English achievement among rural students.